Loyola Law School faculty members pride themselves on being accessible to the media and part of the public discourse on news of legal significance. Visit Loyola's Summary Judgments faculty blog to read faculty opinions on current legal issues. Highlights of recent media appearances and quotations include:
1/31 – Daily Journal
WITH SETTLEMENT TALKS SWIRLING, ANOTHER ROUNDUP TRIAL TO START IN MARTINEZ
“For the plaintiffs, if they keep winning, they can get more leverage.” said Adam S. Zimmerman, a professor at Loyola Law School.
1/31 – UAZMI
IMPEACHMENT TRIAL DAY 9: KEY REPUBLICAN SAYS HE WILL VOTE AGAINST CALLING WITNESSES
Senator Lamar Alexander, who had been considered a pivotal vote on witnesses, said late Thursday that he will not vote for witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial. CBSN political contributor Molly Hooper, CBS News White House reporter Kathryn Watson and Loyola law school professor Jessica Levinson joined CBSN to discuss the ninth day of the impeachment trial.
1/31 – Reuters
WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO BAYER SETTLING ROUNDUP LAWSUITS?
But Adam Zimmerman, a law professor at Loyola Law School, said defining those groups is complicated by the lack of a signature disease associated with Roundup, making it difficult to predict Bayer’s liability.
1/30 - Law360
A MODEST PLAN TO STREAMLINE CIVIL CASES IN LA SUPERIOR COURT
"It is no secret that civil litigation is time-consuming and expensive." writes Prof. Gary Craig along with #LLS students, Jasmine Gomez and Kennedy Myers in their Law360 piece "A Modest Plan To Streamline Civil Cases In LA Superior Court"
1/26 - Labor Tribune
MISSOURI SENATE REPUBLICANS TRYING TO OVERTURN CLEAN MISSOURI AMENDMENT
“Whatever your opinion of the Clean Missouri initiative, SJR38 is a giant step backward,” said Justin Levitt, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School. “It guts what the voters demanded; it puts the line-drawers back in the pockets of the politicians; it undermines protections for minority populations. And it adds constraints, but in the worst possible way, with artificial, abstract rules that only have teeth when they cut through the heart of real communities where real people live.”
1/23 – Reuters
TRUMP IMPEACHMENT PROSECUTOR, ADAM SCHIFF, IS BECOMING EXHIBIT A IN PRESIDENT'S DEFENSE
“It is not common you would personally attack a prosecutor,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “But we are not in a courtroom. We are in a political theater - emphasis on theater.”
1/23 - Los Angeles Daily News
AT CENTER OF IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, BURBANK'S SCHIFF IS BOTH CELEBRATED, SCORNED
Politics aside, Jessica Levinson, director of Loyola Law School’s Public Service Institute, praised Schiff’s oratory.
“I would have been so proud of any of any of my students for performing the way he did today,” she said. “It was really well organized. Very clear,” and presented in a way that undercut Trump’s defense. “We’re gonna be reading this speech in 10 or 20 years, and someone’s going to say to the Republicans, ‘how did this not move the dial at all?’”
1/22 – CFJC Today
#METOO PROSECUTORS DEPLOY EXPERTS EARLY TO THWART DEFENCE
“I think that makes sense. It’s basically a quick education for the jury, and it is true the jury starts to see things through that lens,” said Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
1/22 – The National Memo
RIGHT-WING GROUPS PRESSING TO PURGE WISCONSIN VOTERS
But all of these arguments and details—which come from a conflicting mix of laws, bureaucracy and porous data—obscure some bigger points, said Justin Levitt, a professor of constitutional law at Loyola Law School and former staff attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Voting Section.
1/22 – Erie News Now
SUPREME COURT CONSIDERS MONTANA RULING BLOCKING GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, says the case might appeal to the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. "Make no mistake, the current court is conservative and the case could be part of a steady march toward interpreting the Free Exercise Clause to require states to treat some secular and religious institutions as equally deserving of public funds" Levinson said. "Church, meet a very welcoming state."
1/21 – Los Angeles Times
A. COUNTY SUPERVISORS APPROVE SUBPOENA AUTHORITY IN POWER STRUGGLE WITH SHERIFF
Sean Kennedy, a Loyola Law School professor and member of the commission, questioned the Sheriff’s Department’s claim that records have been withheld to protect the integrity of criminal investigations.
1/21 – Spectrum News 1
SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL BEGINS
“He [Senator Mitch McConnell] is setting rules right now that will basically, not entirely, set the rules. He’s basically saying we should have arguments then we will decide whether we will call witness,” says Stanley Goldman, professor at LMU Loyola Law School.
1/20 – CBS News
TRUMP'S LAWYERS SUBMIT BRIEF AHEAD OF IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
“Founder talk over and over again about worrying that a presidents, a public man, will have a public crime,” says LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
1/20 – Reuters
HOW TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL WILL DIFFER FROM A CRIMINAL ONE
Jurors in criminal cases are instructed not to convict a defendant unless there is proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But there is no formal standard of proof in impeachment proceedings, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
1/20 – The Daily Herald
PROSECUTORS DEPLOY EXPERTS EARLY AGAINST WEINSTEIN DEFENSE
“I think that makes sense. It’s basically a quick education for the jury, and it’s true the jury starts to see things through that lens,” said Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
1/17 – KNX-AM
ATTORNEY KEN STARR ADDED TO TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE TEAM
“The headliner is going to be Ken Starr because people know him from the Clinton impeachment,” says Jessica Levinson, professor at LMU Loyola Law School.
1/17 – KPCC-FM
ZOE LOFGREN, HOW MLK BOULEVARD GOT ITS NAME, THE WOMEN'S MARCH MOVEMENT
For analysis on what we just heard from impeachment manager Lofgren, plus more on impeachment, it was announced Friday that President Trump plans on adding former independent counsel Kenneth Starr to his defense team. Carla Marinucci, senior editor for Politico's California Playbook; Jack Pitney, Roy P Crocker professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College; and Stanley Goldman, professor at Loyola Law School join the conversation to discuss more about the news.
1/16 – Law.com
WITH TRIALS LOOMING, MONSANTO LOOKS TO SETTLE SOME ROUNDUP CASES
“There’s a lot of incentive on both sides to try to come up with certain types of settlements,” said Adam Zimmerman, of Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. “I don’t think a few more cases set for trial necessarily adds pressure, but what it does do is creates an environment to have productive conversations to resolve the cases in chunks, or in a larger way.”
1/16 – Vox
VOTING RIGHTS ADVOCATES JUST WON A SMALL BUT IMPORTANT VICTORY IN MISSOURI
A study by Loyola Law School Professor Justin Levitt, who led much of the Justice Department’s voting rights work under President Obama, found only 35 credible allegations of in-person voter fraud among the 834 million ballots cast in the 2000-2014 elections.
1/15 – Spectrum News 1
DEMS RELEASE NEW UKRAINE DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING TEXT AND HANDWRITTEN NOTES
“This is almost a bit of a deluge. We have more and more documentation here,” says Stanley Goldman, professor at LMU Loyola Law School.
1/15 – KPCC-FM
IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES PASS TO THE SENATE, AIRPLANE FUEL DUMP, WEINSTEIN TRIAL UNDERWAY
“If no witnesses are called, you’re simply going to have a statement made by the prosecutors and a retort from the defense. Probably not unlike what we have already heard,” says LMU Loyola Law School Professor Stanley Goldman.
1/14 – The Hill
PARTIES TO WAGE CENSUS BATTLE WITH OUTSIDE GROUPS
“State courts have been increasingly willing to weigh in, knowing that nothing is coming from the federal government,” said Justin Levitt, a former top Justice Department official and law professor at Loyola Law School.
1/14 – ABC News
ANDREW YANG WON’T BE ON TONIGHT’S DEBATE STAGE, THAT MAY BE A PROBLEM FOR HIS CAMPAIGN
Yang’s absence may lead some to question whether he can take his campaign all the way to the White House, said Jessica Levinson, a political commentator and professor of law at Loyola Law School.
1/14 – NBC News Think
SUPREME COURT'S 'BRIDGEGATE' DECISION COULD HAVE BIG IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC CORRUPTION
“The case has implications far beyond the officials who helped create a traffic headache back in 2013,” writes LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
1/13 – KCRW-FM
SUPREME COURT CONSIDERS BRIDGEGATE, TEXAS REFUSES REFUGEES
Two officials were convicted for “two federal crimes. Both essentially dealing with fraud,” says LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
1/13 – San Francisco Chronicle
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES PROPOSE BIGGER SUPREME COURT TO COUNTER ‘THEFT OF JUDICIARY’
“I think you can add (justices) but you can’t fundamentally overhaul” the appointment system without amending the Constitution, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
1/13 – Inside Climate News
EMAILS REVEALED U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WORKING CLOSELY WITH OIL INDUSTRY TO OPPOSE CLIMATE LAWSUITS
Because the emails do not reflect the substance of the meetings, Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said it is difficult to assess whether ethical lines were crossed.
1/13 – Claims Journal
GOVERNMENT EXPERTS URGE NEW TALC TESTING STANDARDS AMID ASBESTOS WORRIES
Adam Zimmerman, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the recommendations could be used in courtrooms to strengthen plaintiffs’ cases and were particularly valuable because they come from “experts looking out for public safety who don’t have any skin in the game.”
1/13 – CNN International
TRUMP SAYS SOLEIMANI WAS TARGETING FOUR U.S. EMBASSIES
“Just using the name of those three countries and the word ‘crisis’ is very troubling. As it should be,” said LMU Loyola Law School Jessica Levinson.
1/12 – Fox 11
HOW WILL SUPER TUESDAY AFFECT THE WAY CANDIDATES CAMPAIGN
“We moved our election up to March 3rd. We’re going to be part of ‘Super Tuesday’ and there is 495 delegates in California that are basically up for grabs,” says LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
1/10 – Daily News
LA’S GARCETTI PUTS HIS BET ON ‘PRESIDENT JOE’
Garcetti’s endorsement is just one among many that came in Thursday from “people in high profile positions,” signaling that many in political circles may be looking at his leads in early voting state polls and now believe Biden is the likely Democratic nominee, said Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
1/10 – The Washington Post
FOR TRUMP’S REPUBLICAN DEFENDERS, IS THERE SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH PRESIDENTIAL POWER?
“The president is taking what was a slow creep and trying to set a bomb off in terms of expanding executive authority,” said Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson. “At some point, you’re going to have a Democratic president, and they’re going to give that person all this power.”
1/10 – Yes Magazine
RANKED CHOICE VOTING GAINS TRACTION FOR 2020
“Ranked choice voting doesn’t force what’s really a false choice of all-or-nothing,” says Justin Levitt, law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who studies electoral systems. “It gives every person one vote, but communicates more information with that single vote.”
1/10 – Bloomberg Law
HARVEY WEINSTEIN TRIAL IS A #METOO RECKONING
Former federal prosecutor, Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School, discusses Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial and how the #MeToo movement and celebrity may factor into the verdict.
1/09 – C-Span3
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION LOOKS AT VOTING RIGHTS
“Does the Guarantee Clause give congress any power in this area?” asked LMU Loyola Law School Professor Aaron Caplan at The American Constitution Society for Law & Policy’s voting rights event.
1/09 – KCAL 9
FACEBOOK’S REFUSAL TO BAND POLITICAL ADS
“You could accentually go through someone’s Facebook profile and say I want to find a soccer mom in West Los Angeles who cares about climate change. You could specifically target ads to those people. Unlike television ads, where it’s just a barrage and there is nothing personalized about it,” said Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
1/09 – Cronkite News
AS STATE LOOKS TO REDISTRICTING AFTER 2020, PAINFUL LESSONS FROM 2010
For states looking to adopt independent redistricting commissions, Arizona is a model to study, said Justin Levitt, associate dean for research at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and a former Justice Department senior voting rights official in the Obama administration.
1/09 – Lexington Herald
WHAT IF KY. LEGISLATORS WORKED TO SOLVE REAL ISSUES INSTEAD OF PHANTOMS LIKE VOTER FRAUD?
Justin Levitt, a professor at the Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, has been tracking alleged fraud since 2008 and found 31 instances of potential fraud out of 1 billion votes cast. Fraud that Kentucky has experienced in the past, such as vote-buying, would not be stopped with a photo I.D.
1/08 – My News LA
INNOCENT MAN SPENT TWO DECADES BEHIND BARS: REAL CRIMINALS FINALLY SENTENCED
Adam Grant, program director for Loyola Laws School’s Project for the Innocent, which handled Contreras’ appeal, said he is pleased with the outcome but did not want to speculate on how Marko Contreras feels today.
1/08 – Roll Call
REAPPORTIONMENT AFTER CENSUS COULD SHAKE UP SWING DISTRICTS
California and New York have devoted tremendous census outreach and counting efforts: $180 million worth in the Golden State and $60 million in the Empire State. That kind of investment may make the difference in the final census count, said Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor.
1/07 – The Sacramento Bee
CALIFORNIANS LOVE TO REJECT BILLIONAIRE POLITICAL CANDIDATES. WILL 2020 BE DIFFERENT?
“I think that on a very basic level, there’s some thought like ‘I’m successful and I know how to make money and therefore I will be successful in running a country,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School. “Those two things don’t necessarily connect.”
1/07 – KNBC-LA
CHARGES AGAINST SOCIAL WORKERS DROPPED
Jessica Levinson, professor at LMU Loyola Law School, noted that Justice Victoria Chaney wrote in her descent, “I am most disturbed by the negative incentives this case creates for social workers and DCFS.”
1/07 – Inside the Issues
HOW THOSE WITH DISABILITIES CAN ASSURE THEIR VOTES COUNT
“Voting is the most important right that we have. All of our other rights are ties in to the ability to vote,” says LMU Loyola Law School Dean Michael Waterstone.
1/07 – KNX-AM
APPEALS COURT THROWS OUT CHARGES AGAINST FOUR FORMER SOCIAL WORKERS
“I think the opinion was correct,” said Loyola Law School Professor Emerita Jan Costello. “The case workers had the option and they had the power to remove the child and to file the petition in the dependency court, but they didn’t have the duty to do so.”
1/07 – The Press-Enterprise
PECHANGA CASINO MURDERER DEFENDANTS GET A HIGH-PROFILE LEGAL TEAM
“I’m not convinced after being in trial for the last 40 years that just because you have the higher-paid lawyer, you will have the better lawyer or the better case,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at LMU Loyola Law School. “Jurors sometimes think, ‘Why do you need such a fancy lawyer? What do you have to hide?’ “
1/07 – The Sacramento Bee
NEWSOM’S FREE LEGAL COUNSEL + SB 50’S LOCAL CONTROL MAKEOVER + AN EVEN GREENER CALIFORNIA?
Seeking legal advice from outside counsel isn’t unusual in state government, said Jessica Levinson, a government ethics expert and Loyola Law School professor. “This is a pretty big win for taxpayers,” she said. “These are top notch lawyers providing legal expertise to Californians.”
1/06 – KCRW-FM
THE DIVISION OF WAR POWERS BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT
“It is the highpoint of congressional power when it comes to authority over declaring war,” says LMU Loyola Law School Jessica Levinson.
1/06 – Star Tribune
LEGISLATOR'S WORK AS ST. PAUL MAYOR'S AIDE RAISES RED FLAG
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who studies ethics in politics, said Her doesn’t appear to personally benefit from steering state funds to the college savings program. But the issue highlights a more complex web of ethical issues that could arise because of her employer/employee relationship with the mayor.
1/06 - KTVU FOX 2
'NO PARTY PREFERENCE' VOTERS NEED TO REQUEST PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY BALLOT IN CA
“Really worried about people who don’t know they’re registered as 'no party preference,' don’t know they got the postcard, don’t know they have to return the postcard," said Professor Jessica Levinson, who teaches election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
1/06 – The Fulcrum
TUG-OF-WAR CONTINUES OVER CUTTING NAMES FROM VOTER ROLLS
But Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, warns in a posting on the Election Law Blog that comparing the number of registrations to the estimated adult population is "bad science."
1/06 – KCRW-FM
POTENTIAL PROBLEM FOR INDEPENDENT VOTERS IN UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson discusses an opinion piece she co-authored regarding no party preference voters.
1/06 – Brink News
WHAT WILL KEEP YOU AWAKE IN 2020?
“Probably how we will handle artificial intelligence in all areas of intellectual property law. Right now, the problems and issues are not well-formulated by policymakers or scholars. I worry that the issues won’t become clearly understood until we get into repeated legal disputes,” says LMU Loyola Law School Professor Justin Hughes, Former Senior Adviser, the Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property.
1/06 – Roll Call
CENSUS ESTIMATES: REDISTRICTING AHEAD FOR CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK AND TEXAS
States like California and New York have devoted tremendous census outreach and counting efforts; $180 million worth in the Golden State and $60 million in the Empire State. Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor, said that kind of investment may make the difference in the final census count.
1/03 – Star Tribune
LEGAL BASIS FOR US KILLING OF IRAN GENERAL DEPENDS ON THREAT
One problem with relying on the self-defense rationale is that the justification is undermined if the risk of retaliation would create more of a threat to Americans, said David Glazier of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "This is an incredibly complex question," he said. "I'd be very wary of anyone who says they know the answer."
Alumni News
1/07 – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS WELCOMES NEW LEADERSHIP TO PACIFIC NORTHWEST
As special agent in charge, Parker, a 25-year veteran of federal law enforcement, supervises a cadre of special agents responsible for investigative work across Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Special Agent Parker holds both a bachelor’s degree in political science from Alcorn State University and a juris doctorate from Loyola Law School.