2023
The Use of History in Court Cases (November 2023)
Water Law: How Public Policy Got Us Here And Could Get Us Where We Need To Be (October 2023)
Water Sharing In The West (September 2023)
Water Law in the Colorado River Basin: Past, Present, and Future (May 2023)
Water Law: Hawai’i (April 2023)
On American Soil: How Justice Became A Casualty of World War II (March 2023)
The Port Chicago 50: Racism and Review (February 2023)
War Crimes: From the 1945 San Francisco U.N. Conference to Today (February 2023)
The Use of History in Court Cases
The Supreme Court has recently adopted a jurisprudence giving “history and tradition” a central role in its constitutional decision-making. Cases involving the Second Amendment, affirmative action, redistricting, and Religion Clause now turn on inquiries about British and American history that run as far back as the 14th century. Historians have their own methods for formulating and resolving problems that often diverge from the types of questions that lawyers and judges seek to answer during this new mode of constitutional litigation. As a result, the question of exactly how historians should engage legal issues, and how judges and lawyers should assess and apply historians’ contributions, has become a matter of significant interest and controversy. In this panel, we will discuss the variety of problems these interactions have raised.
Water Law: How Public Policy Got Us Here And Could Get Us Where We Need To Be
The availability and use of water are determined by a complicated and heady mix of public policy, federal law and regulation, and state law. Our panel of experts will start by tracing some of the complexity of water history in California. Then, starting with the story of efforts to restore the San Joaquin River as a backdrop, and proceeding through the ebb and flow of the interplay of federal and state efforts to address the challenging San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem, our panel will discuss how despite the complex overlapping jurisdictional issues at play, there may be some more innovative water policy models that could lead to more progress.
HAMILTON CANDEE | Partner, Altshuler Berzon LLP; Member of the Board of Directors of the NRDC Action Fund
BRIAN GRAY | Senior Fellow, PPIC Water Policy Center; Professor of Law Emeritus, University of California
FELICIA MARCUS | William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow, Stanford; Founding Member, Water Policy Group; Elected Fellow, Nat’l Academy of Public Administration, American College of Environmental Lawyers
DR. TERRY YOUNG, Moderator | Environmental Science and Policy Expert
Introductory Remarks by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, President/CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California; Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California
Water Sharing In The West
Western water law, based on prior appropriation, is not associated with a sharing mentality. Instead, it’s first in time, first in right, and the devil take the hindmost.
Join us as our esteemed panel of experts explore the multi-jurisdictional nature of water appropriation from historical pueblo water rights, to the Supreme Court’s recent Arizona v. Navajo Nation decision, to some cutting edge ideas on fair water allocation coming out of Orange County.
Welcome by Chief Judge Philip S. Gutierrez
Panelists:
Robin Craig | Robert C. Packard Trustee Chair in Law, USC Gould School of Law
Peter Reich | Lecturer in Law; Academic Director, Law & Communication Intensive; UCLA School of Law
Shelley Saxer | Laure Sudreau Chair in Law; Professor, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
Watch the full program here!
Water Law in the Colorado River Basin:
Past, Present, and Future
The 40 million people who live in the Colorado River Basin face a challenging water shortage and the need for reform to chart a sustainable future. Adapting to the present challenges and shaping those future reforms requires an appreciation of the legal history of the Colorado River. That history shows how the law has both frustrated and advanced goals of achieving greater equity in water access in the Basin.
This panel discussed the legal history of the Colorado River Basin, how that history shows both failures and successes in advancing water equity, the relationship between that history and the present shortage, and what reforms might secure a more sustainable and equitable water future for all who call the Colorado River Basin home.
Watch the full program here!Panelists:
PROF. DERRICK BEETSO | Director, Indian Gaming and Tribal Self-Governance Programs; Professor of Practice, Arizona State University
RICHARD MORRISON | Co-founder, Morrison Institute of Public Policy at Arizona State University
SARAH PORTER | Director, Kyl Center for Water Policy
KATHRYN SORENSEN, Ph.D. | Director of Research, Kyl Center for Water Policy
PROF. RHETT LARSON, MODERATOR | Professor of Water Law, Arizona State University; Senior Research Fellow, Kyl Center for Water Policy
Water Law: Hawai’i
Hawai‘i’s unique historical and cultural foundations around wai and kai — fresh and salt water — are key to understanding water law in Hawai‘i.
Scientists and practitioners continue to identify and address threats to these precious resources: including stony coral tissue loss disease related to shipping; climate change; and more.
Come learn about these contemporary issues, the interplay of federal and state law, as well as community-led protections of water resources.
Drew Porter | Legal fellow, Department of Land and Natural Resources
U‘i Tanigawa Lum | Assistant Professor, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law
Savannah Harriman-Pote, Moderator | Energy & Climate Change Reporter, Hawai‘i Public Radio
Watch the full program here!On American Soil:
How Justice Became A Casualty of World War II
During WWII, a brief scuffle between a Black enlisted man and an Italian POW quickly escalated into a bloody riot at Seattle’s Fort Lawton. That night, an Italian prisoner of war was found murdered. Later, JAG Col. Leon Jaworski brought charges against 43 Black soldiers. The largest and longest Army court-martial of the war ended with the conviction of 28 soldiers for rioting, and of 3 of those soldiers for the killing of the POW.
Journalist Jack Hamann and his wife, Leslie, uncovered previously-classified documents that raised alarming questions about Jaworski’s prosecution. The publication of their book, On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II launched Congress and Army investigations. The book’s many disclosures prompted the Army to set aside all convictions, overturn the soldiers’ dishonorable discharges, and issue formal apologies.
Panelists:
Prof. Mary D. Fan | Jack R. MacDonald Endowed Chair, University of Washington School of Law
Jack and Leslie Hamann | Authors, On American Soil
Nicholas Brown | U.S. Attorney, W.D. WA
Hon. Robert Lasnik | Moderator
Watch the full program here!
The Port Chicago 50: Racism and Review
During WWII, Black sailors stationed at Port Chicago, CA, were required to load munitions on ships with inadequate training and under supervision that stressed speed over safety. Longshoremen warned that catastrophe was imminent, and on July 17, 1944 that admonition came true with a cataclysmic series of explosions that instantly killed 320 men (⅔ of them African American) and injured hundreds more.
A month later, unsafe conditions inspired hundreds of Black servicemen to refuse to load munitions, an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. Fifty men—called the “Port Chicago 50″—were convicted of mutiny and sentenced in ways that would change their lives.
Members of the Contra Costa Bar Association’s Port Chicago Task Force and the Federal Bar Association presented a partial reenactment of the Mutiny Trials and discuss how this event, witnessed by Thurgood Marshall, became a catalyst of the modern civil rights movement, and about the ongoing efforts to seek the exoneration of the Port Chicago 50.
Watch the full program here!War Crimes: From the 1945 San Francisco U.N. Conference to Today
Do politics and diplomacy factor into our definition of war crimes? How are war crimes dealt with currently, compared to the past? The NJCHS and fellow historical societies invite you to hear our esteemed panelists speak on this topic.
Watch the full program here!Speakers:
Prof. Laurel Fletcher | International Human Rights Clinic, Berkeley Law
Prof. Saira Mohamed | UC Berkeley School of Law
Moderated by Ambassador (ret.) Jeff Bleich
Keynote by Robert James, Esq.
