Rules governing attorney conduct in cases of inadvertent disclosure of privileged or protected materials must strike an appropriate balance between two competing bedrocks of American jurisprudence: an attorney’s ethical duty to represent her client zealously, and the evidentiary shield from discovery afforded privileged or protected documents. The California Supreme Court’s holding in Rico v. Mitsubishi […]
Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association: Local Voters, State Propositions, and the Fate of Property Assessments
Since 1978, fiscal limitations imposed by the California Constitution have curbed the ability of local governments to raise revenue. Recently, the California Supreme Court made one of the most important of these limitations even more restrictive. In Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, Inc. v. Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, the court held that a property […]
In re Lawrence: Preserving the Possibility of Parole for California Prisoners
The California Supreme Court recently took a key step toward protecting the due process rights of prisoners. The court required the governor or Board of Parole Hearings (the “Board”) to present “some evidence” indicating that an inmate is currently dangerous to withstand judicial review of a decision denying parole. This outcome affects approximately twenty-three thousand […]
In re Bay-Delta; CEQA Decision Adds Certainty to Water Planning
Since the Gold Rush, the Bay-Delta has endured much: from the flushing of its tributaries with mud and debris by hydraulic miners to the dredging of waterways and draining of marshes by engineers. But as the decades wore on, as pumping stations pushed water to rich fields and booming cities, and as California grew to […]
North Coast Women’s Care: California’s Still-Undefined Standard for Protecting Religious Freedom
Ever since reproductive technology became widely available to treat fertility problems, some physicians have tried to limit access to this technology for various reasons, including the age, marital status, and sexual orientation of patients. In a landmark ruling, the California Supreme Court recently held that clinic physicians may not deny lesbians access to fertility treatment […]
Achieving Impartiality in State Courts
It has been very gratifying to see one of the finest law schools in the nation conclude that state courts, and specifically the California Supreme Court, deserve closer study because of the significant position they occupy in the legal fabric of the United States. I propose here to touch upon the broad significance of the […]
The Marriage Cases – Reversing the Burden of Inertia in a Pluralist Constitutional Democracy
The California Supreme Court has replaced the New York Court of Appeals, the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court as the court at the cutting edge of many issues in American public law. The process of displacement probably began long ago, perhaps as early as 1948, when the […]
Judicial Opinions as Public Rhetoric
By any measure, the California Supreme Court’s decision in In re Marriage Cases is the most significant in the last year and in recent memory. Chief Justice George’s opinion thoroughly and forcefully explains why gay and lesbian individuals have the right to marry under the California Constitution. This conclusion is founded on basic principles of […]