The LACBA Student Lounge Blog

California inmate released after nine years in prison: California Western School of Law

Today, Rafael Madrigal, Jr. was released from the California Institution for men today at noon. The release of Madrigal follows the reversal of an attempted murder conviction for a July 2000 gang-related shooting in which Madrigal was not involved. Co-counsel Eric Multhrup filed the motion for bail on Madrigal's behalf. Last Thursday, Magistrate Judge Marc Goldman granted the motion in an October 1 written court order.

Madrigal's release marks the sixth release of a wrongfully incarcerated person through the Innocence Project, established in 1999 at California Western School of Law. The project evaluates over 2,000 claims of innocence from California inmates each year and several law students from the school participate in the clinics activities. Students who participate in the year-long clinic work alongside California Innocence Project staff attorneys on cases where there is strong evidence of factual innocence.

Y.E. Yang, Edward Chen, Jacqueline Nguyen, Dolly Gee, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr: Four Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

China is undoubtedly emerging as a global power.  Asians and Asian Americans are, meanwhile, also making headlines in the United States.

On Sunday, Y.E. Yang became the first Asian born player to win a major Professional Golf Association championship.  In the past few weeks, President Obama similarly nominated three Asian Americans for judicial appointments. 

Judge Edward Chen could, therefore, become the first Asian American district court judge in the Northern District of California.  Judge Jacqueline Nguyen and Ms. Dolly Gee would, additionally, respectively be the first Vietnamese American district court judge and the first Chinese American female district court judge in the country.  These ethnic milestones are, unfortunately, currently limited to Asian nations. 

Police recently arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an African American Harvard professor, in front of Gates’ house.  The facts of the arrest led many to wonder if the incident was an act of racial profiling.  A growing number of citizens, many of Latin American decent, are, likewise, complaining about wrongful detention and deportation on the part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Yang’s win and the recent judicial nominations represent progression for Asians in America.  The potential civil rights violations, however, simultaneously question the equality and legality of American law enforcement practices. 

The Second Oldest Law School in California: USC Gould or Stanford?

In a Metropolitan News Enterprise column, Roger M. Grace is setting the record straight on what California law school was second in time. According to Grace's latest Perspectives column, which focuses on the beginnings of legal education in California, the University of California Hastings clearly fills the role of first in time with the very first courses taking place in 1878. However, the issue of which California law school takes the honor of second in time may not be as clear.

Contenders for the second law school in California are the Los Angeles Law School, which later became the law school at USC, and Stanford Law School. Grace's column goes through the many fascinating historical facts that are available on the issue and promises more in a future column on what may be the contender for the fourth slot, the San Francisco YMCA Law School, later known as Golden Gate University School of Law.

While digging up the facts on the earliest remnants of legal eduction in California, one question, which Grace alludes to, is figuring out what precisely makes an educational institution a law school. Interestingly, while sorting out what constitutes a law school to discuss the early beginning of legal education in California, the most junior law school in California, the UC Irvine School of Law, continues the history of redefining the fundamental nature of legal education.

The Journal of Legal Education: A New Home at Southwestern Law School

The Journal of Legal Education was established over 70 years ago and has recently found a new home at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. Previously hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center, August 2009 was the first issue of the journal hosted by Southwestern. The journal is a quarterly publication of the Association of American Law Schools, which supports the exchange of ideas and information about legal eduction and issues related to legal education. Editors of the Southwestern hosted journal include Bryant Garth, Angela Riley, Molly Selvin, and Alicia Olivares.

The Journal of Legal Education at Southwestern continues to look at and tackle current issues that law schools and law student programs are facing. The current issue focuses and topics such as sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, reproductive rights in the legal academy, legal education reform in China, academic freedom and professional responsibility and a group of articles addressing the relationship between religion and law schools.

Although the majority of the journal's readership may be law school administrators and educators, it can also serve as a window to where legal academia is at and where it may be going for other inquiring minds as well.

Interested in subscribing to the journal or grabbing back issues? A subscription to this quarterly journal will put you back $50/volume, a mere pittance for law school administrators with an expense account. Individual back issues are $18. Get more details about subscriptions and back issues here.

The United States Economy, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Kobe Bryant in China: Made in China

It is unclear whether the recession is over.  President Obama is, however, clear about China’s role in rebuilding the global economy. 

This dependency on China is not surprising.  Despite the economic woes plaguing the United States, China’s power and economy continue to grow. 

China is currently the United States’ primary creditor and the target for many business ventures.  When Las Vegas casino moguls Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson sought to expand their empires, for example, they turned to China.  Today, the total gambling revenue of the Cotai Strip in Moscau, China, exceeds that of the Las Vegas Strip. 

These international ties are, furthermore, spilling into American sports.  A Chinese investment group recently purchased a minority ownership in the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers.  Kobe Bryant’s relationship with China, likewise, includes a reality show, a website, selling more jerseys in China than Yao Ming, and receiving an award for his work as a “cultural ambassador.” 

In the past, America regarded China as a third-world country with little use other than housing sweatshops to manufacture sports apparel.  Last year, China hosted the Olympics, the largest and most recognized sporting event in the world.  Today, along with the traditional sports apparel, it seems the solutions to the global economy and future are, surprisingly or not, also “Made in China.”

Judge Robert Takasugi: Pro Bono Bar Review

On August 4, 2009, Judge Robert M. Takasugi died at the age of 78. Judge Takasugi was the first Japanese American appointed to the federal bench for the Central District of California in 1976, after serving on the Los Angeles Municipal and Superior Court benches. As both a district court judge for 33 years and an invitee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Takasugi’s work has consistently been marked by a high degree of integrity and a commitment to equal access to justice.

A memorial will be held on August 13 at Town and Gown on the USC campus, 665 Exposition Blvd. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Robert M. Takasugi Pro Bono Bar Review by writing checks payable to the "JABA Education Foundation" with a notation in the memo line for "Judge Takasugi Pro Bono Bar Review", mailed to JABA Education Foundation, P.O. Box 86063, Los Angeles, CA  90086.

The Pro Bono Bar Review was founded about 30 years ago by Judge Takasugi. What started as a small group of bar repeaters is now a complete bar review with fifteen different instructors covering all essay topics, multistate, and the performance exam. The course is free to those who qualify and the program has had an exceptionally positive impact on improving diversity in the legal profession.

End of the Recession: Paying the Price

In addition to the California budget, the Bay Area’s initiative to increase city, county, and state revenues will likely help remedy the crisis.  Like all solutions, however, the plans have downsides. 

The California budget, for example, received as much opposition as it did support.  Some of the greatest opposition came from the proposals to release prisoners and reduce environmental regulations. 

By April 2010, San Francisco will, furthermore, install parking meters in Golden Gate Park for the first time.  The Park is one of the most popular sites for tourists and locals.  The initiative, will, therefore, make it more difficult to enjoy the Park by motor vehicle. 

Oakland’s pay-and-display parking kiosks additionally present challenges to bicyclists.  The kiosks, which replaced traditional parking meters, require motorists to pay their own fees and ensure they cannot benefit from additional time left on a meter.  While this technology increases city revenue, the elimination of parking meters duly eliminates posts bicyclists rely on to lock their bicycles. 

The increasing fares implemented on public transportation this summer, furthermore, present an especially great burden on summer law students with unpaid internships.  These same students are also facing significant tuition increases.  Some argue the end of the recession is near.  With these budget crisis remedies, however, law students may have a different opinion.   

Assembly Bill 390, Parking, and BART: Increasing Revenue, Decreasing Deficit

California legislatures are still considering the Big Five’s proposed budget cuts.  An additional potential solution to the crisis, however, is increasing city, county, and state revenues.    

In February, California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, for example, proposed California legalize marijuana by passing Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act.  Amiano argues the Bill would allow the state to regulate and tax the fourteen billion dollar marijuana industry, which would increase state revenue.

Bay Area cities are, on the other hand, looking for a less controversial solution.  In June, the city of Oakland announced it will increase parking meter rates and extend the hours of enforcement.  San Francisco is, likewise, considering installing more parking meters.  Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), the Bay Area’s primary public transportation provider, furthermore, recently increased its rates and implemented new parking fees. 

City officials recognize these measures alone will not solve the budget problems in either Oakland or San Francisco.  Still, officials believe increasing city revenues is better than nothing. 

While the legal and political processes behind the California state budget and Assembly Bill 390 remain incomplete, Bay Area drivers and commuters, will, therefore, do their part to help the economy, one quarter at a time.

California Budget and Angel Island: Passing the Budget, Surviving the Crisis

As immigration remains a controversial issue, the budget crisis recently threatened public access to some of the most historically significant immigration sites in the United States.

Earlier this summer, in an effort to remedy California’s budget crisis, Governor Schwarzaneger proposed California close 220 state parks.  The proposed closures included Angel Island, which houses the west coast’s primary immigration and quarantine facility of the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s. 

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior approved the Fiscal Year 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill.  The Bill includes the authorization of a $38 million budget for the preservation of World War II Internment Camp Sites.  The Camp Sites housed west coast residents of Japanese decent during the War.

On Monday, California’s Big Five approved a similarly optimistic budget agreement.  Whereas the Governor’s previous proposal recommended the State cut approximately eighty percent of state park funds, this week’s budget cut less than twenty percent of the funds. 

Even if California legislatures approve the budget, the Park Department will still have to close some parks.  With the minimized cuts, however, it appears Angel Island will remain open.  Although the budget is facing a lot of opposition, the historical immigration sites will, therefore, likely survive the crisis. 

 

Reuniting Families Act, Secure Fence Act, and District 9: Reporting Non-Humans

Although ethnic equality in America is becoming more of a reality, immigrating to the United States remains as challenging as ever. 

Current immigration policies are currently preventing nearly six million potential immigrants from reuniting with their family members in America.  The House of Representatives is, therefore, currently considering the Reuniting Families Act.  While the Act may remedy some aspects of the delay, illegally crossing the Mexico-U.S. border is still a frequently used alternative means of immigration.

Through Operation Gatekeeper, Operation Hold-the-Line, and Operation Safeguard, the U.S. Government previously tried to prevent this type of immigration.  Stemming from these initiatives, President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which dedicated efforts to building a 700 mile wall along the Mexico-U.S. border. 

Many believe this wall is a justified and effective tool to prevent illegal immigration. Those in opposition to the wall, however, argue the wall is causing people to use more dangerous routes to cross the border.  This increased danger is in turn increasing the number of deaths amongst potential immigrants.  Biologists similarly foresee the wall as threatening wild animals.  Right or wrong, the wall is, therefore, beginning to represent exclusion and similar anti-immigration sentiments. 

Meanwhile, and perhaps arising from these same concepts, District 9, a film about segregating aliens living on Earth from humans, is gaining attention and publicity.  Whether space alien or illegal alien, the film and reality, accordingly, suggest the golden door that once flung open to all, is now more reflective of a wall than a door.