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:
Los Angeles Times – 01.25.19
TRUMP LAWYERS ASK SUPREME COURT TO ADD CITIZENSHIP QUESTION TO 2020 CENSUS (Also appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune)
“The level of fear in minority communities has exploded,” said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former voting rights lawyer at the Justice Department. “People are afraid of the federal government.”
Los Angeles Times – 01.23.19
A. SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA DEFENDS REINSTATING DEPUTY FIRED OVER ABUSE ALLEGATIONS(Also appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune)
Priscilla Ocen, a Loyola Law School professor and vice chair of the commission, told Villanueva she was concerned about his approach to disciplining deputies, noting that it’s not uncommon for survivors of domestic violence to decline to testify.
“If the bar is so high that you want a criminal complaint, and the [complainant] to cooperate with law enforcement, to testify, and to secure a conviction, that bar might not be workable,” Ocen said.
KABC-AM –01.22.19
PRESIDENT TRUMP USPET WITH RUDY GIULIANI AFTER COMMENTS FROM AN INTERVIEW HE DID
Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson talks about the actions of Giuliani and what this means for President Trump.
KNX-AM – 01.22.19
GUN RIGHTS CASE HEADS TO THE HIGH COURT AFTER TWO MEN COULD FACE FEDERAL CHARGES
Professor Laurie Levenson of Loyola Law School, weighs in on what could be the Supreme Court’s Decision of the case.
KCRW-FM – 01.22.19
PROBLEM WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S BAN ON TRANSGENDER PEOPLE SERVING THE MILITARY
Jessica Levinson, professor at Loyola Law School, discusses the possible challenges to President Trump’s plan to limit the military service of transgender personnel.
Vox – 01.18.19
HTTPS://WWW.VOX.COM/2019/1/18/18188125/TRUMP-BUZZFEED-MUELLER-COHEN-OBSTRUCTION
Jessica Levinson, law professor, Loyola Law School: “There are a number of different obstruction of justice statutes. Did President Trump attempt to obstruct justice? That is very, very, very likely. (This is a lawyer’s way of saying “yes.”) Here I believe we would be looking at a possible case of obstruction of justice under 18 USC section 1505. This is obstruction of justice by obstructing proceedings before Congress or any other federal administrative agency or department.
BlackPressUSA – 01.20.19
EXPERTS: SUING THE GOVERNMENT NOT AN OPTION TO END SHUTDOWN
Further, it’s Congress’ job, and they make the rules. So there’s no legal penalty if they don’t reopen the government, said Justin Levitt, a constitutional law scholar and professor at Loyola Law School.
“The Constitution allows Congress to fund government, and everybody assumes that federal officials would want federal activity. But it doesn’t require Congress to fund the government,” Levitt said.
Midknight Review – 01.17.19
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Professor Jessica Levinson, writes: As 2018 gets underway, many are continuing to look for ways to remove President Donald Trump from office. Recently, some Trump critics had staked their hopes on an arcane, little-known and virtually impossible-to-pronounce Constitutional provision known at the emoluments clause. But thanks in part to a recent federal court decision, we may never know what the clause means. While the court battles will continue, it now seems likely that the emoluments clause will not be the legal vehicle that ushers Trump out of the Oval Office.
Los Angeles Times – 01.15.19
L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF REINSTATES DEPUTY FIRED OVER DOMESTIC ABUSE AND STALKING ALLEGATIONS(Also appeared on San Diego Union-Tribune Online)
Jessica Levinson, who teaches governance issues at Loyola Law School and is a former president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, said it’s important to consider that Mandoyan was not criminally convicted. Still, she said, his reinstatement calls into question Villanueva’s values and is “a wrinkle in his quest for cleaning house.”
Los Angeles Times – 01.15.19
WITH FBI PROBE LOOMING, L.A. CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS REVIVE PLAN TO LIMIT DEVELOPER DONATIONS(Also appeared on San Diego Union-Tribune Online)
Former Ethics Commission President Jessica Levinson, who was not on the panel when that decision was made, said she has no doubt that council members are revisiting Ryu’s proposal because of the fallout from the FBI probe. But she argued that it is the wrong strategy — both for practical reasons and because it would probably run afoul of the 1st Amendment.
“The Supreme Court is really suspicious about singling out certain people and saying, ‘You don’t get to participate in the political process by making contributions,’” said Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School.
Talking Points Memo – 01.15.19
JUDGE KEEPS AN EYE ON SCOTUS AS HE BLOCKS CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION
“This is an exceedingly important opinion on a monstrously important topic — and it’s abundantly clear throughout that Judge Furman is really upset at the way that Commerce and Sec. Ross conducted themselves — but the opinion itself really isn’t overly aggressive,” Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, told TPM in an email.
KPCC-FM – 01.15.19
WILL STRIPPING THE MONGOLS MOTORCYCLE CLUB LOGO VIOLATE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS?
Aaron Caplan, professor of law at Loyola Law School specializing in First Amendment law, discusses whether revoking a violent gang’s trademark would its right to free speech.
Sentinel & Enterprise Online – 01.15.19
EXPERTS: MASS. FISCAL ALLIANCE VOTER FRAUD CLAIM OFF BASE
Justin Levitt, a law professor and associate dean for research at Loyola Law School, cited a 2008 case he helped litigate in Montana as an example. In that instance, local groups challenged the registration of about 6,000 voters, including Kevin Furey, an Army Reserve officer. Furey was deploying to Iraq and had asked the post office to forward his mail from his home in Helena to his mother's address in Missoula.
Fortune – 01.15.19
FAKE PORN VIDEOS ARE TERRORIZING WOMEN. DO WE NEED A LAW TO STOP THEM?
“The First Amendment should be the same across the country in right of publicity cases, but it’s not,” says Jennifer Rothman, a professor at Loyola Law School and author of a book about privacy and the right of publicity. “Different circuit courts are doing different things.”
The Observer – Online 01.14.19
OREGON SET TO ADD NEW CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: WHERE WILL IT GO?
The law also states “no district shall be drawn for the purpose of favoring any political party.” This part of the law may be the most important. Justin Levitt, an associate dean for research at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and scholar of constitutional law and the law of democracy, told The Observer, despite this law, political parties often use redistricting to gain or secure power. As of this month, the Democratic Party has super majorities in both branches of the Oregon Legislature and also holds the governor’s office. Levitt said this could lead to the drawing of congressional districts that support the Democratic Party.
Governing – 01.09.19
HOW COUNTING PRISONERS DIFFERENTLY COULD SHIFT POLITICAL POWER TO CITIES By Tim Henderson
Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in redistricting, agreed. “The presence of a prison population in a local district,” he said, “simply distorts representation.” Even though the states that want to count inmates in their home communities are dominated by Democrats, Levitt said either political party theoretically might benefit from counting inmates where they are. “I emphatically don’t think this is partisan issue.”
C-SPAN 2 – 01.08.19
Former Loyola Law School Professor Lara Bazelon, and author of “Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction,” speaks about the Innocence Project and the beginnings of the Innocence Movement. “The Innocence Movement started as a result of Barry Scheck, and the project, smaller projects bloomed.”
Courier-Tribune – 01.08.19
TRUMP HAS THREATENED TO DECLARE NATIONAL EMERGENCY TO GET WALL; WILL THAT WORK? By Kurtis Lee Los Angeles Times
Congress can terminate a declared emergency, but it requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers, according to Loyola Law Professor Jessica A. Levinson.
Bridge – 01.08.19
GERRYMANDERING IS DYING IN MICHIGAN. OF OLD AGE. NO JOKE.
If Democrats or Republicans controlled the 2021 redraw, they could easily turn it to their advantage, said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who tracks redistricting.
Fox News – 01.07.19
CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM CALLS TRUMP INCOMPETENT INAUGURAL SPEECH; VOWS TO FIGHT WH POLICIES By Andrew O’Reilly
“California has positioned itself as the center of the Trump resistance,” Jessica Levinson, a clinical law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told Fox News. “It’s bloody combat.”
Bloomberg BNA – 01.04.19
PANELS TO END GERRYMANDERING COULD REACH SCOTUS AGAIN
If the court once again refuses to curtail partisan gerrymandering it may spur additional states adopting redistricting commissions and lawsuits challenging them, Justin Levitt, a redistricting expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told Bloomberg Law.
Daily Journal – 01.02.19
KEVIN SPACEY'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY KNOWS HOW PROSECUTORS THINK
“I liked his style. He was young then, but he has a lot more experience now,” said Stanley Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor who watched the Spector trial.
The Pew Charitable Trusts – 01.02.18
COUNTING PRISON INMATES DIFFERENTLY COULD SHIFT POLITICAL POWER TO CITIES (Also appeared on Publicnow)
Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in redistricting, agreed. “The presence of a prison population in a local district,” he said, “simply distorts representation.”
TaxProf Blog – 01.01.18
TAX LAWYER SANDY HOLO AND THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1939 BOTH TURN 80 THIS YEAR
Loyola-L.A. tax prof Ellen Aprill surprised her tax lawyer husband Sanford Holo, a former tax partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett (Los Angeles), with this cake commemorating Sandy's 80th birthday (Jan. 18) and the 80th anniversary of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 (Feb. 10).