In the News - November 2, 2020

Media Highlights

Asylum Is Dead. The Myth of American Decency Died With It.
Mother Jones—November/December 2020
Karen Musalo: “To pretend that those countries are safe countries for asylum seekers is beyond obscene.”

Without Barrett, Supreme Court Halts Pennsylvania and North Carolina Attempts to Limit Ballot Counts
San Francisco Chronicle—October 29, 2020
Rory Little: “Why get sideways with the chief when you’re brand new and your vote would make no difference?”

Potential Transfers Out of San Quentin Raise Dire Concerns for Inmates
San Francisco Chronicle—October 29, 2020
Hadar Aviram: If prison officials were to hit reduction goals through transfers rather than releases, “it would be a very disappointing thing for them to do but it would not be surprising.”

U.S. Steps Up Deportation of Haitians Ahead of Election, Raising Covid Fears
The Guardian—October 29, 2020
Nicole Phillips: “There’s so much chaos and disorder in Haiti right now that there’s no infrastructure, economically or socially, for reintegration of these families that are coming back in.”

Nursing Homes’ Next Test—Vaccinating Workers Against COVID-19
JAMA—October 29, 2020
Dorit Reiss: A COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers “will surely be imposed with almost no if any exceptions.”

Californians Vote on the Future of Uber
The Economist—October 27, 2020
Veena Dubal: Dubal estimates that AB5 would raise the firm’s cost per driver by a third. But, she says, it would preserve flexibility and protect vulnerable workers. (paywall/subscription req.)

University of California Flu Vaccine Order—Anti-Vaxxers Court Challenge
Skeptical Raptor—October 27, 2020
Dorit Reiss: The challenge to the University of California flu vaccine executive order faces an uphill battle, given the extensive jurisprudence upholding vaccine mandates.

Calif. Uber, Lyft Measure Could Take Toll on Asians, Who Are 1 in 3 Drivers in Bay Area
NBC—October 26, 2020
Veena Dubal: “Prop. 22 creates a substandard set of rules regarding the working conditions of primarily immigrants.”

SF-Based Tech Giants Want to Rewrite the Rules So Much They’ll Pay $220 Million to Persuade Voters
The Frisc—October 26, 2020
Michael Salerno: Supermajority mandates, even ones this extreme, aren’t likely to be overturned in court.

The Future of Work Post-Pandemic: We’re Not Going Back
Government Executive—October 26, 2020
Alice Armitage: “This pandemic will open everyone’s mind, and gets people to move out of their silos.”

Newsom Has Been Ordered to Halve San Quentin’s Population, But He May Not Release Inmates
San Francisco Chronicle—October 26, 2020
Hadar Aviram: Advocates fear that the state will try to satisfy the court order with a wave of mass transfers — a strategy they say would be dangerous and ineffective, akin to “playing ‘Tetris’ with people.”

Uber and Gig Companies Spend Nearly $200 Million to Knock Down an Employment Law They Don’t Like—and it Might Work
Washington Post—October 26, 2020
Veena Dubal: The gig companies are following a long history in California of powerful groups “manipulating the way the public understands propositions.”

Women Are Being Forced to Give Up Their Careers
Bloomberg Opinion—October 23, 2020
Joan Williams: “If you are now managing this pandemic crisis in a way that drives women out of your workforce, we’ll know that it was a lot of nice talk while it lasted, but you actually didn’t mean it.”

5 Tax Ballot Measures to Watch on Election Day
Law360 Tax Authority—October 23, 2020
Manoj Viswanathan: If the hotly contested measure is approved, Prop 15 stands to increase California property tax collections by about 20%.

Scholarly Leadership

Richard Boswell: Co-moderated a panel on Immigration Law Scholarship at the Clinical Law Review Writers’ Workshop held at New York University Law School

Tim Greaney: Testified before the California State Assembly Committee on Health, “Health Care Affordability: How to Control Costs in California.” Read his testimony here.

Chimène Keitner: Spoke on a panel regarding “Election Interference: International Law and the Future of Democracy” by Jens Ohlin at Cornell Law

Upcoming Events

UCLA Anderson/UC Law SF: Nov. 10, 3rd Annual Regional Outlook
San Francisco Economic Outlook and Pension Policy. Join Jared Ellias and economic experts from UCLA as they unravel the many layers of events affecting the outlook for the State and Bay Area, provide insights about where the economy is headed, and where it might lose its footing.

Office of the Academic Dean: Nov. 10, Post-Election Consequences on the Domestic Front
Join Sarah Hooper, Shauna Marshall, Zachary Price, Jodi Short, and Rory Little as they explore domestic implications of the November 3rd election, including issues of health care, race, criminal justice, administrative law, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Faculty Colloquium: Nov. 12, Corporate Community Lawyering
Join Alina Ball, founding director of the Social Enterprise & Economic Empowerment Clinic, as she discusses Corporate Community Lawyering. Open to students, staff, and the public.

Office of the Academic Dean: Nov. 12, What’s Next? Foreign Policy and International Affairs in the Next Administration
Join Chimène Keitner, David Takacs, Karen Musalo, Joel Paul, and Naomi Roht-Arriaza as they discuss foreign policy, immigration policy, climate change, and the pandemic. Free and open to the public.