Last week, the Rehnquist Center hosted an event of national import at the College of Law, when Justices Scalia and Breyer discussed their respective approaches to interpreting the Constitution to a live television audience of 500 at the Leo Rich Theatre in Tucson. The event was well-covered locally and throughout the state, as well as on blogs and in national newspapers. Representative coverage can be found here:

• Arizona Daily Star, Oct. 27, 2009:  www.azstarnet.com/sn/dailystar/314766.php
• East Valley Tribune, Oct. 27, 2009:  www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/146308
• New York Times, Adam Liptak column, Nov. 10, 2009:  www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10bar.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1257868866-TXFlKogd+UGj6A3Upxs8Bw

You can watch the event on demand at:

• Arizona Public Media
  http://ondemand.azpm.org/videoshorts/watch/2009/10/26/kuat-a-conversation-on-the-constitution/
• C-SPAN
  http://cspan.org/Watch/Media/2009/10/31/AC/R/24809/Justices+Scalia+Breyer+on+the+Constitution.aspx

Posted: 11/02/2009

The Fall 2009 issue of the Arizona Law Review (Vol. 51, No 3)has been released. It is a themed issue dedicated to one of the most important topics of our time: The New Regulatory Era. Particularly now, with the debate over healthcare at the epicenter of a media storm, and massive reforms of the failing financial regulatory systems, it is clear that we must think probingly and critically about the motivations behind and mechanisms of government regulation.

The issue begins with The J. Byron McCormick Lecture given last March by George Packer. The lecture was dedicated to a discussion of the “New Liberalism,” a yet-to-be defined era marked largely by the decline of conservative ideology in the realm of government regulation.

In an introduction to the articles, Professor Barak Orbach discusses our shifting regulatory landscape and identifies some of the triggers responsible for this shift, including: the relationship between personal responsibility and regulation, fallacies of the invisible hand model, the utility of regulation in addressing externalities, and concern over the alleged slippery-slope of regulatory action. These factors are interwoven in the issue’s remaining articles. In “Regulatory Trust,” Rebecca Bratspies (CUNY) discusses regulation vis-à-vis the underlying dynamics of trust between society and the acting government body. Herbert Hovenkamp (Iowa) then re-examines the seminal work of Ronald Coase, The Problem of Social Cost, and credits Arthur Cecil Pigou with originally introducing many of the economic concepts underlying Coase’s Theorem. Christine Klein (Florida State) delineates the lessons learned from the national economic crises and argues for their applicability to environmental regulations. And Mario J. Rizzo (NYU) and Douglas Glen Whitman (Cal State Northridge) examine the danger of escalating regulation associated with “new paternalism.”

The issue also includes some wonderful pieces from our own writers, including Notes by 3Ls Christopher Hering and Eric Moores. Chris examines the Fourth Amendment implications of community urinalysis monitoring and argues for state legislatures to take action to address the privacy concerns raised by this new technology. Eric explores the abuses that still exist under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act and outlines a statutory plan for further reform of the system.

Electronic versions of essays, articles, and notes from the current issue and other recent issues of the Arizona Law Review are available at http://www.arizonalawreview.org.

Posted: 10/19/2009

Every semester, the Program in Criminal Law and Policy hosts a speaker series on relevant topics. This year's preliminary schedule is listed below.

This semester, the program is pleased to co-sponsor events with the Arizona Law Women’s Association and the Arizona chapter of the Federalist Society.

• August 26. Greg Kuykendall and Annamarie Valdiva Frank, Kuykendall & Associates. Defending Foreign Nationals in Death Penalty Cases: The Mexican Government’s Role.
• For background information, see Greg Kuykendall, Mitigation Abroad:  Preparing a Successful Case for Life for the Foreign National Client, 36 Hofstra Law Review 989 (2008) (available at http://law.hofstra.edu/academics/Journals/LawReview/lrv_issues_v36n03.html), discussing Medellín v. Texas, 552 U.S. ___ (2008), available at www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/06-984.ZS.html), and the Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (International Court of Justice), available at www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr=605&code=mus&p1=3&p2=3&p3=6&case=128&k=18.
• September 2. James Nesci, Nesci St. Louis and West. Source Code and the Right to Confrontation: What it is and why the defense needs it.
• September 9. Justin McCrary, UC Berkeley School of Law. Why Does the U.S. Spend So Much on Corrections, and So Little on Policing? www.econ.berkeley.edu/~jmccrary/lee_and_mccrary2009.pdf
• September 16. Professors Andy Silverman and Jonathan Rothschild, The University of Arizona Civil Rights Restoration Clinic.
• September 23. Chief Roberto A. Villasenor, Tucson Police Department.
• September 30. Laura Conover and Heather Williams, Federal Public Defender’s office. The Girlfriend Problem: Female Co-defendants in Criminal Cases. Co-Sponsored with the Law Women’s Association.
• October 7. Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, Author Bill Daniel, Executive Producer Larry Demster. The Shootout At Miracle Valley Revisited. Book available here: www.amazon.com/Shootout-Miracle-Valley-William-Daniel/dp/1604941529; KOLD story on the Shootout available here: www.kold.com/global/story.asp?S=9801248.
• October 14. Jacob Sullum. Libertarian Perspective on Drug Policy. Responder: Pima County Attorney’s Office (Tenatative). Co-sponsored with the Federalist Society.
• October 21. Marie Sotelo, Counsel, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Counseling Law Enforcement at the Border. Co-Sponsored with the Law Women’s Association and the Immigration Law Students Association.
• October 28. Nicol Green, Deputy Pima County Attorney. Prosecuting Domestic Violence Cases. Co-Sponsored with the Law Women’s Association and Law Students for Reproductive Justice.
• November 4. Thomas Jacobs. Arguing Arizona v. Gant, 552 U.S. (Apr. 21, 2009) in the U.S. Supreme Court. Opinion here: www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-542.pdf.
• November 11. Veteran’s Day. No Speaker.
• November 18. Terri Rahner, Clinical Coordinator, Mental Health, Pima County Superior Court. Competency to Stand Trial and Restoration to Competency in Arizona Courts. Co-Sponsored with the Law Women’s Association.
• December 2. TBA.

All events except as noted will be Wednesday at 12:00 in Room 164, at the Rogers College of Law, 1201 E. Speedway Blvd. (Room 164 is an outdoor classroom which is on the Helen Street side of the College of Law). Events are free and open to the University community, legal community, and the public. Pizza will be served at 12:05 p.m., the talk will start at 12:15 p.m., and end by 1:20 p.m. This schedule is subject to change; for the latest information, please consult http://uacj.typepad.com. CLE credit for Arizona attorneys is available.

Posted: 08/24/2009

The Environmental Breakfast Club, a diverse grouping of faculty from various departments, programs and colleges on the campus, who meet monthly at Arizona Law to discuss works in progress on the environment and natural resources, have just released their schedule for the coming year. Topics include Groundwater Declines, Climate Change and Approaches to Adaptation; Forest fires and climate, policy, etc.; and Zooarchaeology and Environmental Conservation. All presentations will be on the first Friday of each month (January and May excepted), from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m., in the Law College Faculty Lounge (Room 237).

Posted: 07/07/2009