Democracy

Daniel Farber, a professor at UC Berkeley Law School and author of “Contested Ground: How to Understand the Limits on Presidential Power,” said California’s raft of lawsuits is a result of the current Trump administration “doing more aggressive things right off the starting block” — but also repeatedly targeting California specifically.

“Although considerable attention has understandably been paid to President Donald Trump’s efforts to suppress the vote, there has been too little focus on the possibility that congressional Republicans might try to overturn Democratic victories after the election and thereby retain control of the House or the Senate, “write Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Miles Mogulescu.

“Most of all, I want to use this additional time as dean to encourage us all to think big about what we can do to position Berkeley Law to truly make a difference in legal education, the legal system and society,” Chemerinsky wrote in a message to the school community. 

“It is essential that Berkeley Law play a crucial role at this unprecedented moment in the history of our democracy,” he wrote in his email to the law community. The law school is “fighting to protect the climate, to safeguard immigrants, to reform the criminal justice system, to use AI constructively, to protect workers, to restore funding to University of California faculty and researchers, and so much more.” 

Catherine Lhamon, executive director of the Edley Center and CLEE Executive Director Louise Bedsworth hosted a panel  entitled “Science, Democracy, and the Environment: Developing a Community of Practice for Strategy and Action,” which  highlighted what might be the path to a more scientifically informed democratic future.