Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky was one of five recipients — including music icon Bruce Springsteen and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick — of the ACLU’s Ralph Ellison Award for Defenders of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Arts, Business, Science, and Sports. Former U.S. associate attorney general Vanita Gupta and South Carolina literacy advocate Elizabeth Foster were also honored. Given the ACLU Presidential Prize, Chemerinsky was hailed for his influential scholarship and Supreme Court advocacy that continue to shape the national discourse on federal jurisdiction, the First Amendment, and civil liberties protection. “Decades from now, people will look back … as we look back at times like the McCarthy era or other pivotal moments, and judge what people did,” he said. “Will we be condemned for our silence and our capitulation? Or will we be praised for our courage and our resistance?”