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:
3/26- Los Angeles Times
JUDGE UNDERCUTS CHOICE NOT TO CHARGE ED BUCK IN OVERDOSE DEATH
Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, said it was “not a good reflection on the D.A.’s office that Judge Snyder pretty quickly found evidence admissible that the D.A. didn’t see as admissible for prosecution.”
“The horrifying thing is that, in being so cautious, the downside is great,” she said. “What’s of grave concern here is that I think there were just a lot of signals that this was a really serious event that was putting people in danger, so you might want to move as aggressively as the law would permit.”
3/25- Salon
NOW TOM COTTON WANTS TO BAN "CRITICAL RACE THEORY" FROM U.S. MILITARY
Loyola Law School professor Priscilla Ocen, explained to Time last year that critical race theory attempts to make society more just and inclusive by examining the country's racial divisions and understanding how historical racism impacts minorities in the country today.
"Critical race theory ultimately is calling for a society that is egalitarian, a society that is just, and a society that is inclusive, and in order to get there, we have to name the barriers to achieving a society that is inclusive," Ocen told Time. "Our government at the moment is essentially afraid of addressing our history of inequality, and if we can't address it, then we can't change it."
3/23- Washington Post
But Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School who served as a civil rights lawyer in the Obama administration, said career lawyers in the department will be motivated to carry out a thorough hate-crimes investigation.
Levitt said that Asian American leaders are justified in calling the case a hate crime that has frightened the local community. By contrast, he said, “DOJ is there not to decide whether this is or is not a hate crime, but whether the facts can establish beyond a reasonable doubt whether this is a hate crime — which is different. These can be the kinds of cases that leave a community more distraught if they do not get what they feel is the right intuitive answer.”
3/22- LAist
MORE LA SHERIFF’S OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF MISCONDUCT IN ‘BANDITOS’ DEPUTY GANG LAWSUIT
A report by Loyola Law School found 18 deputy gangs that have operated within the department. Its author Professor Sean Kennedy said at least seven remain active.
3/22- KCRW
CALIFORNIA LABOR CASE COULD KILL UNION ORGANIZING ON FARMS
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, a big case involving California farmworkers and whether labor organizers can use an employer’s property for union activities before or after work hours. Two fruit producers say they cannot — because the Fifth Amendment protects against having private property taken for public use without compensation.
Guest: Jessica Levinson, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
3/21- New York Magazine
THE SMEARING OF KRISTEN CLARKE
“It’s impossible not to notice that women of color seem to be drawing fire for the wrong reasons,” says Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor and former Civil Rights division official. National Women’s Law Center president Fatima Goss Graves told me, “These types of campaigns against women of color, and the language that is being used, to portray these nominees as ‘radical’ are not being levied against men.”
3/19- Santa Ynez Valley News
H. DENNIS BEAVER: DID 'IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE' ALMOST OCCUR?
Motivated by a leader who many think was delusional, those events in Washington D.C. January 6th 2021 have a special meaning for Los Angeles-based Loyola Law School professor Stan Goldman.
He is author of Left to the Memory of a Rude Stream, subtitled, “The Bargain That Broke Adolph Hitler and Saved my Mother.” It is a riveting story about one of the worst nightmares mankind has seen: the Holocaust and his own family. When I began reading it, I was compelled to finish the book that very day.
3/18- Los Angeles Loyolan
ANTI-ASIAN DISCRIMINATION AND HOW TO CONFRONT IT: A GROUP DIALOGUE
Law professor Kathleen Kim had planned an event on Wednesday titled “Understanding Anti-Asian Discrimination and Strategies to Confront It.” The event was supposed to be a conversation between Professor Kim, third year Loyola Law School student Ashley Kim, and actress Vivian Bang to discuss the increasing incidences of violence against the Asian American community amidst the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year and contextualize it alongside the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on racial minorities.
3/18- CBS Los Angeles
“The criticism of the Mayor’s Fund for a long time has been this is just a way to obtain access and influence over the mayor,” Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, said.
And while she said that may be the case, it was the city that ultimately won in this case.
“Uber actually came in and fulfilled a very real need,” she said.
3/18- CBS Los Angeles
“This is not a situation where Vanessa Bryant is pushing the boundaries of the law where you can say, ‘Sure, she’s doing something legal, but does it go against the spirit of the law,'” Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, said. “I don’t see that here, and so I think we should be careful about saying her behavior is unethical.”
3/17- LAist
HIGHLY UNUSUAL FOR A DA': GASCÓN TOUTS HIS PUSH TO CUT PRISON SENTENCES
"These numbers are highly unusual for a DA's office," said Loyola Law School Professor Stan Goldman, referring to a prosecutor proudly displaying policies designed to lower prison sentences. "The question is how it's going to work out. Is violent crime going to go up when people get out of prisons?"
3/17- Progressive
UNEQUAL JUSTICE: ANTI-KLAN LAW COULD SPELL TROUBLE FOR TRUMP
Taking a middle position, Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said in an interview with Reuters that Swalwell’s lawsuit was “not a slam dunk” but might require Trump to sit for a deposition.
“As with so many suits against Trump, the name of the game may be to keep the suit going long enough to take depositions and obtain discovery,” Levinson said.
3/17- News 4 Jax
DESANTIS LASHES OUT AT ‘CRITICAL RACE THEORY’ IN PUSH TO OVERHAUL FLORIDA’S CIVICS CURRICULUM
“Critical race theory ultimately is calling for a society that is egalitarian, a society that is just, and a society that is inclusive, and in order to get there, we have to name the barriers to achieving a society that is inclusive,” Priscilla Ocen, professor at the Loyola Law School, told Time magazine last year. “Our government at the moment is essentially afraid of addressing our history of inequality and if we can’t address it, then we can’t change it.”
3/15- KCRW
FORMER REP. KATIE HILL SUES GOP OPERATIVE OVER RELEASE OF INTIMATE PHOTOS, CITING REVENGE PORN LAWS
Katie Hill was a rising star in California Democratic politics. She flipped a longtime Republican district in Santa Clarita in 2018.
Less than a year later, she was forced to resign after compromising photos were leaked. She later admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staffer, though denied accusations of an inappropriate relationship with a Congressional staffer. The relationship would have violated U.S. House of Representative ethics rules.
Guest: Jessica Levinson, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
3/13- Los Angeles Daily News
GASCÓN TEAM EAGER TO TAKE SECOND LOOK AT QUESTIONABLE CONVICTIONS
The unit’s investigations have been “fairly cursory,” said attorney Paula Mitchell, who directs Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent and has worked with Gascón on improving the integrity office. Mitchell represented Andrew Wilson, whose murder conviction was overturned in 2017 after he spent 32 years in prison. Lacey’s office refused to reconsider the case, Mitchell said, but a judge vacated the conviction.
The integrity unit previously was staffed by prosecutors whose efforts had led to some of the convictions they were reviewing, Mitchell said.
3/10- LLM Guide
“The job is becoming harder, but also more interesting, due to the general advancement of technology and its adoption by companies all around the world,” says Aaron Ghirardelli, visiting associate professor at LMU Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
The work is also becoming more interesting due to the increasing number of data privacy laws and regulations, he says. For example, European GDPR has created a framework that every company must follow, or risk penalties of up to €10 million.
3/8- Los Angeles Times
FORMER REP. KATIE HILL'S LAWSUIT PITS 1ST AMENDMENT AGAINST REVENGE-PORN LAW
“This case is important politically, societally and legally,” said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School. “People are going to be watching this case just because it involves Katie Hill, so it will be a consequential decision merely for the fact it’s so high profile. It also will provide some information about the reach of this particular California statute. ... With each new case comes important precedential value.”
Levinson said there is relatively little case law regarding private pictures being shared publicly, but such cases are likely to grow more common because of the ease of taking and disseminating photographs and the increasingly common practice of romantic partners exchanging intimate images.
3/8- KCRW
DEREK CHAUVIN’S TRIAL BEGINS THIS WEEK, ERIC SWALWELL SUES TRUMP OVER CAPITOL INSURRECTION
Aside from the coronavirus pandemic, no news story dominated the past year more than the reckoning with systemic racism after the death of George Floyd. This week is the start of the murder trial for Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Jury selection is delayed as a judge considers whether to reinstate a third-degree murder charge. The media frenzy surrounding this case raises a big question: How do you find a fair and impartial jury for a trial like this?
Guest: Jessica Levinson, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
3/6- The Hill
POLITICAL LAND MINES AWAIT GARLAND AT DOJ
Justin Levitt, who served as deputy assistant attorney general in DOJ’s civil rights division during the Obama administration, said establishing those boundaries will be important for the new leadership to maintain its credibility in the department’s efforts.
“It is entirely proper for the White House to be consulting with DOJ leadership on broad institutional priorities,” said Levitt, who’s now a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “But it’s 100 percent improper to be directing individual cases — something we saw way too much of in the last administration. But already the mandate has gone out that that is not something we’re going to see happen this time around.”
3/6- MSNBC
TRUMP'S FAVORITE LEGAL TRICK MAY SAVE HIM YET AGAIN
When Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell filed a suit against former president Donald Trump on Friday, he took a smart approach. Namely, Swalwell’s suit is broader, and therefore would appear more winnable, than one that merely asserts that Trump incited the attacks on the Capitol.
Article by LMU Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
3/6- The Hill
ON THE TRAIL: GOP'S TYRANNY OF THE MINORITY
On the other hand, study after study has shown there is no widespread voter fraud in the United States. One review conducted by Loyola Law School elections expert Justin Levitt of elections between 2000 and 2014, in which a collective 1 billion ballots were cast, found a grand total of 31 different incidents of fraud. In 2016, four instances of fraud were discovered among the 135 million ballots cast.
3/5- LAist
SHERIFF TO DA: LET'S PROBE CORRUPTION TOGETHER. DA TO SHERIFF: NO THANKS
Law enforcement task forces are hardly unusual. But the sheriff's proposal puzzled Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor in L.A.
"These task forces usually come more organically, where law enforcement talks to the prosecutors and then the prosecutors help coordinate an appropriate task force," she said.
Public corruption investigations are particularly sensitive since the targets often are elected or government officials. That's why they often are led by the DA, the U.S. Attorney or state attorney general — not local police, Levenson said.
3/5- Reuters
CONGRESSMAN SUES TRUMP OVER DEADLY CAPITOL SIEGE, CHARGES CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said Swalwell’s lawsuit was “not a slam dunk” but might eventually result in Trump sitting for an interview under oath.
“As with so many suits against Trump, the name of the game may be to keep the suit going long enough to take depositions and obtain discovery,” Levinson said.
3/2- PolitiFact
WOULD CONGRESS’ NEW VOTING-RIGHTS ACT H.R. 1 ALLOW ‘VIOLENT FELONS’ TO CAST A BALLOT?
"I think it’s accurate, but also incomplete and out of context," said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he teaches constitutional law with a focus on election administration.
3/2- KCRW
US SUPREME COURT HEARS BIG ARIZONA CASE CENTERING ON VOTING RIGHTS ACT
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in a case out of Arizona that focuses on the Voting Rights Act. Advocates worry the court will further chip away at the landmark 1965 law. Eight years ago, the court gutted one of the law’s most essential parts, which required state and local governments to check with the feds before changing their voting laws.
The case also comes as dozens of state legislatures are looking to put more restrictions on access to the ballot box, pushed by Trump supporters who believe the unfounded conspiracy that the 2020 election was rigged or stolen outright.
Guest: Jessica Levinson, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
3/2- MSNBC
THIS SCOTUS DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOUR VOTING RIGHTS
Non-news alert! Democrats now control the House, the Senate and the White House. And this is in part the result of record voter turnout.
It therefore may be no coincidence that Republicans in some states, like Georgia, have proposed new laws that could make it harder to vote. A new report by the Brennan Center for Justice lists over 100 measures introduced in states that would restrict the right to vote.
Article by LMU Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
3/2- KPCC
Eight years after carving the heart out of a landmark voting rights law, the Supreme Court is looking at putting new limits on efforts to combat racial discrimination in voting.
Guest: Justin Levitt, Professor, LMU's Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
3/1- MSNBC
TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS MAY NOT LEAD TO ACCOUNTABILITY IN NEW YORK
Many are watching the New York County district attorney's criminal investigation into the financial dealings of former President Donald Trump and his businesses with bated breath. Will this be the moment that Trump finally faces real "justice" for alleged illegal behavior?
Article by LMU Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.