Faculty

Professor Albert Lin spoke to Science magazine for an April story on a new paper that finds a way to quantify how much emissions from a particular polluter contributed to a given heat wave.

On April 8, Professor Kevin R. Johnson gave a talk to the Notre Dame Law School chapter of the American Constitution Society.

Johnson discussed recent developments in birthright citizenship, which Donald Trump has attempted to end. Johnson discussed how text, history, and precedent firmly establish birthright citizenship as part of U.S. law.

In May, the Supreme Court will weigh Trump’s claim that there is no automatic guarantee of birthright citizenship in the Constitution.

Professor Aaron Tang wrote an April 20 essay in the New York Times about how the major questions doctrine, which had been popularized by conservatives on the Supreme Court to constrain the reach of regulatory agencies, now is being used to challenge President Donald Trump’s “seemingly boundless claims of presidential power.”

“As the saying goes, what goes around, comes around,” Tang writes. “And it is not likely to be good for Mr. Trump.”

Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin spoke to Oakland’s KTVU Channel 2 for a March 25 story about Woodland’s historic Chicago Cafe being up for sale.

“The Chicago Cafe is an important part of California and U.S. history,” Chin said. “On the surface, it is an ordinary family restaurant, but when examined more closely, it reveals a remarkable immigrant story.”

Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin commented for the Sacramento Bee for a March 21 story on a Sacramento County resident’s lawsuit opposing a plan by the county and the United Way to give $725 a month to 200 Black, Native American and Alaska Native families.

Plaintiffs Eva Zhou and the nonprofit Californians for Equal Rights Foundation filed a lawsuit alleging this guaranteed-basic-income program was discriminatory.

Professor Kevin R. Johnson spoke at a special “Legal Legends” event on March 31 at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

In conversation with IU McKinney Professor Linda Kelly, Johnson explored the intricacies of immigration law, including current developments under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Professor Mary Ziegler appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered on April 1 to discuss federal judge Myron Thompson’s ruling that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall cannot prosecute groups that help Alabama residents travel to other states to obtain abortions.

On March 19, Professor of Environmental Practice Rick Frank filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies in the case of Diamond Alternative Energy v. U.S.

On March 20, Professor Karrigan Börk spoke on the panel “The Dust Bowl?: Air Pollution, Great Salt Lake, and Utah’s Critical Challenge” at the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment’s 30th symposium, “Breathing Easier: Air Pollution Challenges and Solutions.”

The Stegner Center is part of the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law.

On March 4, Professor Karrigan Börk gave the plenary address “The Law of the Delta” at the 2025 Interagency Ecological Program (IEP) annual workshop.

The IEP is a consortium of three state departments and six federal agencies that coordinates research in California's Delta.