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Today we honor Clara Shortridge Foltz, the first woman to attend UC Hastings. Among many other accomplishments, Foltz was also the first woman in California to: join the Bar, hold statewide office, and serve as deputy district attorney.

U.C. Hastings had originally NOT admitted Clara Shortridge Foltz because the directors

In February, the state released the results of an audit revealing that 185 people had died in San Diego County’s jails from 2006 through 2020, raising “concerns about underlying systemic issues with the Sheriff’s Department’s policies and practices.”

This year alone, at least twenty people

Last month the Ninth Circuit published a decision on the constitutional implications of what may be perceived by some as a small, annoying police intrusion – chalking the tires of parked cars. The Ninth Circuit’s holding in Verdun creates a Circuit Split over the issue and includes some

Police liability for fabricating evidence

Caldwell v. City & Cty. of S.F., No. 16-15473, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 12335 (9th Cir. May 11, 2018)

Mr. Caldwell spent nearly 20 years in prison for a crime that evidence later showed he did not commit. He sued the police department and individual

“The Cops Beat the Crap Out of Me” and Preclusion of Civil Suits by Criminal Guilty Pleas

Byrd v. Phoenix Police Dep’t, No. 16-16152, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 6575 (9th Cir., March 16, 2018).

This case teaches two things: 1) pleading guilty to a drug

Incidents of harassment, bullying, and hate crimes against the Asian American community have been on the rise since early 2020. Stop AAPI Hate documented nearly 11,500 acts of hate during the two year period from March 2020 through 2022. Sadly, California

Greetings, beloved criminal practitioners and defenders of civil rights! After a break from doing these updates, attributable mostly to a crazy trial schedule and launching / rebranding our new firm McKenzie Scott PC, my colleagues and I are excited to reboot this newsletter. As always, our hope is to

(Constitutional Cases for Justice Warriors: October 12, 2022 Edition)
Other than a hard-fought loss from McKenzie Scott PC’s criminal / white-collar practice, it was a slow week for relevant Ninth Circuit civil cases.

So we turn our attention to unexpectedly powerful language—and ideas—from the Fifth

The challenges and, all too frequent, horrors of life in private prisons in the United States are well documented:

• Jonathan Mattise, Private prison firm to settle lawsuit over inmate death, San Diego Union Tribune, August 14, 2022.
• First Amendment

The City of San Diego passed Resolution No. 76068 during WWII, which “urged” the FBI to remove persons of Japanese ancestry “from San Diego and vicinity” because Japanese people were “cause for great concern” in the community. On September 19, 2022, the City Council rescinded that Resolution. The Council acknowledged