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:
12/20 – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WANT TO MAKE VOTING EASIER IN WISCONSIN? HERE ARE NINE WAYS TO DO IT.
A comprehensive 2007 study by Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, found it is more likely that an American “will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.”
12/20 – Bloomberg
FEAR OF FUTURE LIABILITY COULD SINK ROUNDUP SETTLEMENT TALKS
“Unless they [Bayer] are able to find some kind of silver bullet, there won’t be any near-term end to litigation,” said Adam Zimmerman, a Loyola Law School professor and an expert in mass tort law.
12/20 – Spectrum 1 News
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES PARTICIPATE IN 6TH DEBATE AT LMU
12/19 – The Guardian
DEMOCRATIC DEBATE: SEVEN CANDIDATES TO FACE OFF A DAY AFTER IMPEACHMENT
The stakes on Thursday night are different for each candidate. Biden, who has been a frontrunner in the race, is probably trying to “stay steady and do no harm” and avoid any standout moments, said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor: “He has to retain the support he has.”
12/19 – Fox 11
12/17 – The New York Times
EXPLAINER: HOW TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL WOULD DIFFER FROM A CRIMINAL ONE
There is no formal standard of proof in impeachment proceedings, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
12/16 – KCRW-FM
SUPREME COURT TO HEAR TRUMP TAX RETURN CASE, AND WISCONSIN JUDGE RULES ON PURGING VOTER ROLLS
The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a major case about President Trump’s tax returns. At issue is whether the president can block Congress and state prosecutors from getting those financial records. It sets up what’s likely to be a landmark ruling on the powers of the presidency -- and a test of the court’s independence. LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson joins KCRW to discuss.
12/16 – VC Star
JUDGE EXCLUDES PUBLIC FROM BOXER VICTOR ORTIZ'S PRELIMINARY HEARING OVER RAPE ALLEGATIONS
Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School and former prosecutor, said closing the courtroom was "extreme" and rare.
"It doesn’t happen frequently, and it shouldn’t happen frequently," Levenson said.
12/16 – Spectrum 1 News
HOW ED BUCK TURNED WEST HOLLYWOOD UPSIDE DOWN
Laurie Levenson, Professor of Law, David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy, Loyola Law School, talks about why it took so long for the DA’s office to apprehend and charge Buck.
12/16 – Hollywood Reporter
HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S HEALTH SCRUTINIZED AS CRIMINAL TRIAL NEARS
Laurie Levenson, currently a Loyola Law School professor, won’t speculate on Weinstein’s health (“I’m not a doctor”), but did say it’s not unheard of for a defendant to use a physical ailment to garner leniency and compassion. She recalls a street crime case in which a man used a wheelchair daily in court — up until the not guilty verdict was read — and says, “This happens every day.”
12/12 – ABC-7
LA COUNTY DA CHALLENGERS ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS, DEATH PENALTY DURING DEBATE
A coalition of organizations like ACLU SoCal, Black Lives Matter-LA and Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent sponsored the debate.
12/12 –Los Angeles Times
LAX CHIEF STEPS DOWN EARLY FOLLOWING SCRUTINY OVER SIDE JOB ON A CORPORATE BOARD
Jessica Levinson, a former president of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and a Loyola Law School professor, said it’s a problem that the commissioners never approved Flint’s board position.
12/11 – St. John Source
FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL LYNCH TO KEYNOTE 10TH DISTRICT COURT CONFERENCE
The conference will feature ethics expert Professor Laurie L. Levenson, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.
12/10 – World Trademark Review
FROZEN 2 VERSUS CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN: COULD ANNA’S RED SOLED SHOES LEAD TO A TRADEMARK DISPUTE?
Earlier this week, eagle-eyed Jennifer E Rothman, professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, asked on Twitter whether trademark practitioners had noticed that Frozen 2 character Anna was wearing “red-soled shoes” – with replies agreeing that she was, and debate sparked over whether the footwear could be inspired by (or even licensed from) luxury fashion house Christian Louboutin.
12/9 – KCRW-FM
EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
“The point of the hearing today was to really try to give a summation of what has happened,” said LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson. “Today was largely about House Democrats trying to give their closing arguments, in a sense, before they draft the articles of impeachment.”
12/8 – The Hill
TRUMP HEADS TO COURT IN FIGHT OVER EMOLUMENTS
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said that it’s generally undisputed that the Foreign Emoluments Clause was designed as a sort of “constitutional anti-corruption code.”
12/8 – The Times News
IS REDISTRICTING SUPPOSED TO BE FAIR?
In other words, “the Court said that a jurisdiction can engage in some partisan gerrymandering consistent with the U.S. Constitution as long as it doesn’t go too far,” said Justin Levitt, associate dean for research at LMU’s Loyola Law School, and founder of allaboutredistricting.org. But, he added, the Supreme Court said “federal courts have no power to determine what ‘too far’ is.
12/7 – KNX-AM
“The President is going to say that this is going to look like an unfair preceding because it is so one-sided. Of course, it is so one-sided because the President chose not to participate,” says Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson.
12/6 – San Francisco Chronicle
HOW TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT RATES IN THE CONTEXT OF U.S. HISTORY
“It was like an intellectual feast, it felt like a hug for your soul in the sense that there were adults in the room and they were talking about what the real issues are — and there’s such a stark contrast, frankly, with the elected officials who are giving stump speeches,” Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor with an expertise in government and politics, said in a phone interview.
12/6 – The Mercury News
MONTE SERENO BUZZES OVER NEWS THAT LOS GATOS COUNCIL MEMBER COULD BECOME ITS MANAGER
Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor and former member of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, said if the council had allowed Leonardis to remain a real estate agent that would have raised questions about whether clients are hiring him as a way to curry favorable treatment before the city.
12/4 – San Diego Reader
BRADLEY FIKES (R.I.P) SPOKE OPENLY ABOUT SAN DIEGO MEDIA
Loyola Law School Professor Jessica A. Levinson, president of the the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, told the Los Angeles Times in March 2017 that such so-called issue committees represent “an end run around contribution limits.”
12/3 – Stock Daily Dish
BAYER BETS ON ‘SILVER BULLET’ DEFENSE IN MONSANTO ROUNDUP CANCER LITIGATION
According to Adam Zimmerman, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, preemption is generally regarded as a “silver bullet defense” because it stops claims across the board.
12/3 – Big Think
KAMALA HARRIS DROPS OUT OF 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE
"In her career, Ms. Harris did not barter or trade to get the support of more conservative law-and-order types; she gave it all away," wrote Lara Bazelon, a law professor and former director for the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent in Los Angeles, in a New York Times op-ed.
12/3 – NBC News
The impeachment debate is heading to Nadler's House committee. But the real fight is in the Senate, Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson writes in an opinion piece.
12/3 – KYW-AM
Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson says that courts are applying legal breaks on the trump administration’s plan.
12/2 – KCAL 9
WILL CA’S 25TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT GO BACK TO RED AFTER KATIE HILL’S FALL?
“We have had law makers who have served time in prison before. What we haven’t had is a situation is where that person isn’t established in that community in any way,” says Jessica Levinson, professor at LMU Loyola Law School.
12/2 – NBC News Think
SUPREME COURT'S GUN CASE WOULD REVIVE PARTISAN RANCOR AHEAD OF 2020. BUT THERE'S A BETTER OPTION.
“Chief Justice John Roberts, the new center of the court, would be wise to avoid a Second Amendment ruling in the heat of a contentious election cycle,” writes LMU Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
12/2 – KCRW-FM
IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY MOVES TO HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE. WHY IS THAT SIGNIFICANT?
“We basically know that this is going to be a hearing that is much more focused on the law and the history of the constitution, specifically the impeachment clause,” says Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson.
12/2 – The Atlantic
WILL JOHN ROBERTS CONSTRAIN TRUMP?
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, in Los Angeles, who closely tracks the Supreme Court, says Roberts’s history signals that the census case is more likely to be the exception than the rule.
12/2 – Maryland Matters
THE TUMULTUOUS LIFE OF AN INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONER
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 U.S. Department of Justice senior voting rights official in the Obama administration.
Alumni News
12/2 – Law.com
WOMEN, INFLUENCE & POWER IN LAW 2019: KUNOOR CHOPRA
My career path has been one filled with accidents, adventure and ultimately effecting change in the legal industry. I went to law school because my parents gave me three options—becoming a doctor, engineer or lawyer. I then went to Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
12/5 – Bis Now
LA POWER WOMEN: 5 QUESTIONS WITH MAJESTIC REALTY’S REON ROSKI
Reon Roski, a University of Southern California and Loyola Law School graduate, is responsible for overseeing the company's day-to-day operations and looking for deals to grow the company's portfolio.
12/5 – Daily Titan
IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY STRIVES TO HELP UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS
Sabrina Rivera was accepted to Loyola Law School, which taught her that just because she looked and spoke differently than the students around her, it didn’t take away from her ability to become a successful attorney.