Interviews

The Daily Californian sat down with Chemerinsky for a conversation about his career as a scholar and advocate, as well as why free speech — specifically on college campuses — matters.

Interview with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky on his new book, “Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism.”  

Alexa Koenig, executive director of Berkeley’s Human Rights Center and a lecturer at the law and journalism schools along with three other Berkeley experts discuss the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and what it reveals about the changing nature of the court, and what lawmakers are likely to do next.

“The danger of this type of case is that a court might be drawn, by the artistic nature of the product at issue, to favor 1st Amendment and artistic expression concerns over consumer protection concerns,” said Ted Mermin, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice. “But on a common sense level, [we] know that if we are buying an album that is marketed as being the songs of Michael Jackson, it had better have the songs of Michael Jackson.”

“One thing that might have triggered this wave of litigation is that cities have become aware in the past 15 years that climate change is costing them money,” Professor Holly Doremus says. “That’s especially true for coastal cities, counties and states, where a lot of these cases are coming from. I think just looking for any way to deal with this problem has sent them to the state courts.”

Professor Rebecca Wexler discusses the role of big tech in a post-Roe world, and why the fight over sensitive data will be of essence to protect patients. 

“Secession is clearly unconstitutional. There’s a reason the pledge of allegiance refers to ‘one nation, indivisible’,” Professor Daniel Farber says. “That’s as much true now as it was in 1865 when the South (including Texas) lost the Civil War, or 1868 when the 14th Amendment guaranteed all Americans the rights of citizenship.”

Some of the president’s ideas, such as raising the age to own a gun nationwide, could be problematic, Yoo says, adding gun laws might be better left up to individual states in the wake of several recent mass shootings. 

Lecturer Mallika Kaur interviews Nancy Lemon, Herma Hill Kay Lecturer, about her extensive experience in a practice area most attorneys agree is emotionally draining and personally trying

Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, appears on 60 Minutes to discuss open source investigations and says we are headed into an entirely new era of human rights investigations, and war crimes investigations, more generally

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky warns that if the Supreme Court overturns the right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, the justices would likely begin “unraveling the whole fabric of constitutional protection of privacy”

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky appears on The Hill TV to discuss the Supreme Court’s apparent intention to overturn Roe v Wade

Professor Catherine Fisk says more needs to be done to protect gig workers and their families

Ethan Elkind, Director of the Climate Program at Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, makes an appearance in State of the Bay to discuss the California Environmental Quality Act and Governor Newsom’s proposed gas rebate for Californians

Professor Amanda Tyler discusses working alongside Ketanji Brown Jackson when they were both clerking at the Supreme Court

Ethan Elkind, Director of the Climate Program at Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, made a guest appearance in Lost LA to discuss the rail lines in Los Angeles

Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, discusses the Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations and the long collaborative process of formalizing OSINT to be admissible in international courts.

Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, talks to BBC Radio about open-source investigators’ work to find the truth behind news events

Professor Amanda Tyler appears on MSNBC’s The Last word to examine the qualifications of President Biden’s potential nominees to the Supreme Court

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky reflects on the last five years, looks ahead to his next term as dean and discusses the future of legal education 

Professor Khiara M. Bridges appears on KQED’s Forum to discuss whether Governor Newsom’s plan to use Texas’ SB8 as a framework to address gun violence is legally viable and politically astute

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky explains the impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Texas abortion case and Governor Newsom’s announcement of a bill that would allow people to sue the makers and sellers of assault weapons

Judge Jeremy Fogel, Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, talks about the future of virtual courtrooms and how law schools need to be preparing graduates for this “new normal” of courtroom proceedings

Professor Andrea Roth says genetic genealogy can be an effective tool for the public good, but cautions that most states have no restrictions on its use

Ken Alex, director of Project Climate at the Center for Law, Energy and Environment, and Ethan Elkind, Director of the Climate Program at Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, discuss what California is bringing to the international climate table and potential ideas it might take back from the discussion

Professor Amanda Tyler talks to Law and History Review about her book, Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union which she coauthored with the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky appears on ABC7’s Facebook live “Getting Answers” to discuss what can be done about disinformation (begins at 13:20)

Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, discusses a United States Magistrate judge’s decision ordering Facebook to disclose content in order to assess “responsibility for genocide” against the Rohingya before the International Court of Justice

Lecturer Mallika Kaur explores how might managers in the legal profession can redefine their leadership styles to listen and plan for primary and secondary trauma responses—in themselves and others – during an interview with Monika Kalra Varma

Professor Khiara M. Bridges dispels the myth is that critical race theory is being taught in K-12 classrooms across the country

Professor Khiara M. Bridges discusses the landmark decision by the Supreme Court NOT to put the Texas abortion restriction law on hold

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky appears on KFI’s Bill Handel show to discuss the new abortion law in Texas, what it means for women in Texas, and how it  impact rulings like Roe v. Wade

Savala Nolan appears on KQED’d Forum to discuss new book, Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender and the Body

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky appears on KQED’S Forum to discuss his new book Presumed Guilty, the judicial doctrines that enable illegal police behavior and how to reform them

Professor Khiara M. Bridges, faculty director of the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice, discusses the legal implications of Britney Spears’ testimony and how it connects to a larger history of reproductive-rights violations

Lecturer Mallika Kaur explores how attorneys remain committed to work that affords few successes and often few forms of traditional validation, with Melissa Barbee, class of 2021, and public interest lawyer Taeva Shefler 

Lecturer Shanin Specter, says his father, the late Senator Arlen Specter, told him former President Donald Trump tried to intervene in the New England Patriots’ infamous 2008 Spygate scandal

Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, appears on PBS NewsHour to discuss Myanmar’s military use of killings to terrorize the country, which was the focus of an open source investigation from the Human Rights Center and the Associated Press

Savala Nolan, Executive Director of the Henderson Center for Social Justice, reflects on the murder of George Floyd and says it falls to white people to understand what happened that day, and why it happened

Professor Kinch Hoekstra discusses the methodology of the history of political thought, the relationship between philosophy and history, the classical foundation of Western thought and the distinction between ancient and modern in Western philosophy

Professor Elisabeth Semel, Director of the Death Penalty Clinic, appears on “State of The Bay” to discuss the Derek Chauvin verdict and and how it fits into the context of a criminal justice system that has long been plagued by racial bias

Lecturer Mallika Kaur talks to Judge Edward M. Chen about systemic discriminations and his decades of practice from both sides of the bench

Professor Amanda Tyler discusses co-authoring Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky discusses whether Democrats should end a senator’s ability to block legislation by endless speechmaking so they can accomplish their agenda

Professor Amanda Tyler discusses co-authoring Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Professor Amanda Tyler appears on NPR’s Morning Edition to discuss Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue, her new book written with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Professor Amanda Tyler discusses her new book, written with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her decades-long relationship with the justice, and Ginsburg’s final thoughts on her legacy and hopes for the future of women’s rights

Dr. Rohini Haar discusses a new report by the Human Rights Center and Geneva-based Insecurity Insight, which identified more than 1,100 threats or acts of violence against health care workers and facilities last year

Professor Khiara M. Bridges is featured in the Netflix documentary Amend: the Fight for America, particularly in episode 4, which examines the fight for women’s voting rights

Professor Jonathan Gould explains the role of the parliamentarian in passing President Biden’s Covid-19 relief package