Loyola 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:
U.S. News & World Report – 02.27.19
WHAT LEGAL RISKS DOES COHEN’S TESTIMONY POSE TO TRUMP
Under U.S. election law, presidential campaigns cannot accept or even "solicit" campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Opposition research on Clinton would qualify as a contribution, said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles." If he said, 'Take that meeting, I want dirt on Hillary,' I think that could give rise to a federal election law violation," Levinson said of the president.
KNX-1070 AM – 02.27.19
MICHAEL COHEN GIVES A PUBLIC TESTAMONY ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP
Stan Goldman, professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, discusses the reliability of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony.
An-Nahar – 02.27.19
WARNING TO MEN: "A YEAR IMPRISONMENT FOR EVERYONE WHO VIOLATES HIS PROMISE TO MARRY"
"South Carolina still allows a lawsuit to be filed in the event of a breach of the promise of marriage, but this matter is within the jurisdiction of the civil judiciary, and therefore a prison sentence is not possible in this case,” says Loyola Law School Professor Jan C. Costello.
Yahoo News – 02.27.19
WHY JUSSIE SMOLLETT PROBABLY WON'T GET PRISON TIME
Laurie L. Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School, said that the bail amount was high for a Class 4 felony, but she believes that Smollett was seen as a flight risk because of several factors: He’s accused of staging his own attack, he’s a public figure, and he hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing.
KNX-1070 AM – 02.24.19
MAN FREE FROM PRISION AFTER MURDER CONVICTION VACATED UNDER NEW CALIFORNIA LAW
“Mr. Tirpak didn't know that the shooting would take place, didn't participate in the shooting,” said Laurie Levenson, founding director of the Loyola Project for the Innocent.
New York Daily News – 02.24.19
STUDY FINDS VOTER ID LAWS DO NOT RESTRICT VOTING OR PREVENT FRAUD
According to a previous study by Loyola Law School Professor Justin Levitt, who analyzed 15 years of voting data, only 35 “credible” voter fraud accusations were made between 2000 and 2014, a time in which over 800 million votes were cast.
San Jose Mercury News – 02.24.19
CAN PROGRESSIVES TRUST XAVIER BECERRA TO POLICE THE POLICE?
“It’s classic California politics,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School.
Los Angeles Daily News – 02.23.19
THE 'LAST REVENGE' OF A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (also appeared on Mercury News)
“The arrival of each check was a small victory for my mother, and her continued survival to collect them was her last revenge,” says her son, Stanley Goldman, who has written a powerful, meticulously researched memoir of his mother’s years in the concentration camps and their life together. “Left to the Mercy of a Rude Stream —The Bargain That Broke Adolf Hitler and Saved My Mother,” is its title. Goldman is a professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former Fox News Channel legal editor.
KFI-AM – 02.22.19
TWO MEN WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF VIOLENT CRIMES IN LA COUNTY RELEASED (Also applicable on KTTV-TV, KNBC-TV, KABC-TV)
Loyola Law School in Los Angeles' Project for the Innocent has secured the release of its client Michael Tirpak, who has spent 25 years in prison for a 1994 crime he did not commit.
Another man, DeAndre Mallard, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and conspiracy in 2003 and sentenced to 26 years to life in prison was also released today thanks to The Juvenile Innocence & Fair Sentencing Clinic at LMU's Loyola Law School.
U.S. News & World Report – 02.22.19
And while the legal battles may continue as long as Trump is in office, both sides benefit from the very public feuds, says Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "In California, we're benefiting because it's politically popular and there have been some real legal and policy wins," Levinson says. "For the Trump administration, they can say, 'we keep getting thwarted by crazy liberal California.'" And that message can work for Trump among his base even if he does not prevail in court.
Los Angeles Daily News – 02.21.19
LA HIDES HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES IN APPARENT VIOLATION OF STATE LAW
Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor and former president of L.A.’s Ethics Commission, described Los Angeles’ uses of averages as providing “only part of the picture.”
Injustice Watch – 02.20.19
INDIANA SEEKS TO UPHOLD CONVICTION AFTER HYPNOSIS BOLSTERED IDENTIFICATION
Disciplinary boards “are quick to assume a prosecutor made a mistake or was negligent or misled by law enforcement,” says Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.
Jewish Journal – 02. 14.19
SON OF A SURVIVOR AND CHILD OF HER TRAUMA
Stanley A. Goldman, a professor at Loyola Law School who founded its Center for the Study of Law and Genocide, deftly mixes his personal experiences growing up the son of a survivor and the events surrounding the crash of Hitler’s 1,000-year Reich.
New York Times – 02.11.19
'PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTOR': CAN KAMALA HARRIS SQUARE THE CIRCLE?
“She played it very careful,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who served on an independent panel that investigated one of the cases of prosecutorial misconduct while Ms. Harris was attorney general. “She had her sights set on what her future might be, and she realized every day she was navigating a minefield, because she had law enforcement to deal with, she had the public to deal with, the minority community to deal with. I think she was trying to be very careful not to alienate.”
Los Angeles Times – 02.08.19
THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER PUSHED THE ENVELOPE WITH BEZOS, BUT WAS IT A CRIME?
Former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson, now a professor at Loyola Law School, said: "Theoretically this could be extortion." But Levenson said the full context of the communications need to be seen to understand why such a discussion was ongoing. "What are the circumstances of the negotiations?" she said. "Not every piece of aggressive rhetoric in legal circles rises to extortion or blackmail," she said.
KCBS-TV – 02.08.19
FEDS INVESTIGATING AMAZON CEO JEFF BEZOS' CLAIM OF BLACKMAIL BY NATIONAL ENQUIRER
Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the allegations potentially put prosecutors in an awkward position because of the deal they had already cut with AMI. "It shows how complicated and dangerous it is to make an agreement with National Enquirer," Levenson said. "They may have to cooperate, but they're continuing in their ongoing battle with Bezos and others.
The Atlantic – 02.07.19
JEFF BEZOS ACCUSES THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER OF EXTORTION
It’s unclear why the Enquirer was so worried about Bezos’s allegations. Since Pecker has already gotten immunity from prosecutors, he seemingly has nothing to lose. But the Enquirer essentially ceded typical First Amendment protections in its deal with prosecutors, a decision that Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, said “essentially signaled the Enquirer is not a real news organization.”
Ignatian Solidarity Network – 02.06.19
IGNATIAN SOLIDARITY NETWORK TO HOST FIRST VIRTUAL TEACH-IN ON MIGRATION
The event builds on the Ignatian Solidarity Network’s Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, which for twenty-one years has connected Catholic faith and justice. Known as the largest annual Catholic social justice gathering in the U.S., the Teach-In now attracts nearly 2,000 attendees each year from over 135 Jesuit and other Catholic universities, high schools, and parishes in the U.S., as well as Canada, Mexico, and El Salvador. Keynote speakers include Fr. Pete Neeley, S.J., associate director of education for Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Arizona, and Mexico, and Marissa Montes, Esq., co-founder of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
ABA Journal – 02.06.19
WITH $1M DONATION, THIS LAW SCHOOL PLANS TO BUILD PIPELINE OF LAWYERS WHO HAVE DISABILITIES
The Loyola Law School hopes to position itself as a leader regarding accommodations for law students who have disabilities, and it plans to create a national dialogue that identifies barriers for the community, says Michael Waterstone, the law school’s dean. The school also wants to recruit law students who have disabilities and host prelaw boot camps for the population.
Washington Post Online – 02.06.19
HER TEXTS URGED A BOYFRIEND TO KILL HIMSELF. A JUDGE JUST UPHELD HER CONVICTION.
After the conviction, Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told The Post that the case sends a strong message that “there are new means of committing old crimes,” and prosecutors will be more likely to look at those cases. She argued that the case did not set legal precedent but raised the question, “When does bullying cross over into committing a homicide?”
San Francisco Chronicle – 02.05.19
KAMALA HARRIS SAYS SHE'LL VOTE AGAINST ALL OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S JUDGE PICKS
Harris’ stance is both good policy and good politics, said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in election and governance issues.
“The rejection of the blue slips was particularly egregious” because it eliminates the powers of home-state senators from minority parties, Levinson said.
Daily Bruin – 02.03.19
LAW PROFESSORS SPEAK ON HOW VOTING PROCESS CHANGES COULD INCREASE TURNOUT IN 2020
Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, said he would give the U.S. election system a grade of a B-.
“If you believe as I do that we should be building a system that accommodates every right and opportunity and expectation that every eligible American would participate, we have a very long way to go,” Levitt said.
USA Today – 02.01.19
WHAT IF ELECTION DAY WERE A HOLIDAY?
Justin Levitt, a scholar of constitutional law and the law of democracy at Loyola University, agrees that an Election Day holiday would send a signal, but said it's not clear which party would benefit.