Faculty Who Lead: UC Law SF Experts Discuss Citizenship, Immigration, Presidential Powers, DEI and Vaccines

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UC Law San Francisco faculty are speaking about key national issues such as constitutional rights, immigration and refugee rights, presidential powers, vaccines, and workplace equality.  


Immigration and Citizenship 

The Guardian

Professor Ming Hsu Chen says the Trump administration’s challenges to the constitutional right of birthright citizenship are without legal precent and represent a “radical re-envisioning of what America looks like.”  

      >> How a young Chinatown cook helped establish birthright citizenship in the US  

KQED  

Chen discusses constitutionality and presidential powers related to the current administration’s restrictive immigration laws, and the landmark 1898 Wong Kim Ark case which established the precedent of birthright citizenship in the U.S. 

>> A 129-Year-Old San Francisco Lawsuit Could Stop Trump From Ending Birthright Citizenship 

headshot of Ming Hsu Chen

Ming Chen

 

Professor Ming Hsu Chen is director of the Race, Immigration, Citizenship, and Equality Program. She is the author of Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era (Stanford University Press 2020).   

 

 


KRON  

Professor Rory Little discusses the legal and constitutional aspects of the birthright citizenship executive order and a federal judge’s temporary restraining order. Little states the President does not have legal power to override the rights and liberties set out in the Fourteenth Amendment. 

      >> KRON4 and UC Law SF Professor Rory Little  

Headshot of Rory Little

Rory Little

 

Professor Rory Little is a national authority on constitutional law and writes about U.S Supreme Court criminal law cases on Scotusblog.com. 

 

 

 


KALW Public Media  

Professor Blaine Bookey joins an expert panel to discuss the potential impacts of new immigration policies. Bookey answers audience questions and discusses UC Law SF’s Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) work in the courts.   

>> The Bay Agenda: Project 2025 Arrives – Immigration & The Justice System  

Headshot of Blaine Bookey

Blaine Bookey

 

Professor Blaine Bookey is legal director of the UC Law San Francisco Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, where she advocates and litigates on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees. 

 

 

 


Immigration Impact  

Anne Peterson of CGRS writes in an op-ed that immigration and customs enforcement failures create inhuman conditions that put lives at risk in detention facilities. Peterson discusses the ways CGRS work is challenging government policies on behalf of asylum seekers.  

      >> ICE’s Inadequate Recordkeeping on Treatment of Detained Asylum Seekers Threatens Their Lives   

Anne Peterson is senior counsel at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies where she litigates and conducts policy advocacy on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees. 


CBS-13 (Sacramento)  

Professor John Myers suggests a flier distributed in Roseville, California urging residents to report undocumented immigrants likely falls under First Amendment freedom of speech protections. California passed the Stop Hate Littering Act in 2024 in response to the rise of hate crimes in the state.  

      >> Flyer urges Roseville residents to report illegal immigrants: “I was outraged.”  

Headshot of John Myers

John Myers

 

Professor John Myers represents child victims of abuse and domestic violence in the courts. The author of 15 books on the subject, Myers’ work has been cited by the U.S Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court.  

 

 


Presidential Powers 

PolitiFact  

Professor Zachary Price discusses the law and history of presidential impoundment power following the Trump administration ordering a temporary pause on federal funds. Price adds that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 provides the statutory framework for managing spending delays.  

      >> Trump administration memo freezing federal funds kicks off legal battle over impoundment power   

Headshot of Zachary Price

Zachary Price

 

 

Professor Zachary Price was previously an attorney in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. He has also worked as a litigator in private practice and clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court.  

 

San Francisco Examiner  

Professor Clark Freshman suggests President Trump’s executive order on recognizing only the sex assigned at birth on passports and visas is likely to face immediate challenges in court.  

      >> California ID standards unchanged amid Trump order  

Headshot of Clark Freshman

Clark Freshman

 

 

Professor Clark Freshman is a negotiation and dispute resolution expert and has been invited to speak on the subject at Harvard, Yale, and UCLA. 

 

 


Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

MSN  

UC Law SF’s Equality Action Center’s Professor Joan Williams provides an actionable and measurable way to address bias in job interviews in an op-ed by author and journalist Brigid Schulte. 

      >> Trump’s Right: DEI Programs at Work Don’t Promote Fairness. Here’s What Will  

Headshot of Joan Williams

Joan Williams

 

Professor Joan Williams is the founding director of UC Law San Francisco’s Equality Action Center. Described as having “something approaching rock star status” in her field by The New York Times Magazine, Joan C. Williams is a scholar of social inequality.

 

 


Health and Vaccines 

ABC News  

Professor Dorit Reiss comments on Robert Kennedy Jr.’s claim that he is not against vaccines and Kennedy’s stake in civil suit against vaccine manufacture Merek & Co.  

      >> RFK Jr. says he’s not anti-vaccine. But he could profit off claim in vaccine lawsuit  

Dorit Reiss

 

 

Professor Dorit Reiss is a researcher and writer on the legal and policy issues of vaccines, and the anti-vaccine movement.