by Alex Hoffman, 3L Day

Since President Obama announced his pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the replacement for retiring Justice Souter on the Supreme Court, her confirmation has been entangled with controversy. While many Senators have expressed their confidence in Sotomayor’s judicial experience and knowledge of the law, the milestone that is the appointment of the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice has been bogged down by comments Sotomayor previously made in 2001.

Sotomayor’s controversial statement at issue was that “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Race was further injected into the confirmation process, as one of the cases she ruled on as a federal appeals judge, Ricci v. DeStefano, which dealt with the racial discrimination of white firefighters was overturned by the Supreme Court.

This resulted in Sotomayor being asked tough questions during confirmation hearings before the Senate Judicial Committee. When explaining her questionable remarks regarding her gender and race, Sotomayor stated that her comments were made in order to inspire Hispanic students to achieve what she has accomplished and maintained that she could rule objectively. While all Democratic Senators on the Committee have thrown their support behind her, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina was the sole Republican to vote in favor of her. Other Republicans on the panel have opposed her due to her more evasive answers regarding the gun rights, abortion and affirmative action. This contrasted with comments made by Democratic Senators, such as newly minted Al Franken who claimed Sotomayor was “the most experienced nominee to the Supreme Court in 100 years.”

Despite the controversies and lack of bipartisan support, Judge Sotomayor appears to be heading towards Senate confirmation. No Democratic Senator has stated he or she will vote against her and several Republican Senators have made it public that they will confirm her, such as Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine, Richard Lugar from Indiana, and Mel Martinez from Florida. Even without Republican support, Sotomayor’s confirmation is reasonably safe, with the addition of comedian Al Franken to the Senate, which ensures a filibuster proof majority of 58 Democratic Senators and two independents who caucus with them. Further, Senator Lindsay Graham was quoted as saying to Sotomayor, “Unless you have a complete meltdown you will get confirmed.”

Senate Republicans who fought with Senate Democrats over voting on President Bush’s judicial appointments of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito may also be pressured by accusations of hypocrisy if they attempt to delay Sotomayor’s Senate confirmation. This does not appear to be the case, as many Senate Republicans have promised a speedy confirmation. The top Republican on the Senate Judicial Committee, Senator Jeff Sessions has announced that he will not support judge Sotomayor, but that he would not support any attempt to block a final vote on her confirmation.

If confirmed, Judge Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the third woman appointed to the court.

By Matt McConnell

The beginning of law school season is among us. But, more importantly, with more than half of the baseball season over, the Dodgers have an 8-game lead in the National League West. That means our boys in blue should just coast into the playoffs, right? That way we can all just focus on school and not stress about our favorite baseball team, correct?

At the time of this writing, the website coolstandings.com projected the Dodgers likelihood of making the playoffs at 92 percent, by far the highest of any Major League Baseball team. Ask any law school veteran, and they can tell you how stressful law school can be; the long hours, moments of confusion, sprouting gray hair and more, etc. The last thing we need is to worry about the Dodgers during our already long nights in the library. Therefore, the baseball gods have done us all a favor this year, and no matter how well the Giants or Rockies play the rest of the way, it looks like the Dodgers will easily make the playoffs. As a direct consequence, I predict that SW students will have the highest test scores in the school’s history.

However, making the playoffs is only winning one battle. Every baseball fan knows that if you want to win the war, you win the World Series! Seeing that the Cardinals traded for Matt Holliday and the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee, it looks like the Dodgers will have serious competition for the National League Championship. In the American League, as always, the Yankees and Red Sox look like real contenders. Therefore, Dodger fans must prepare for an intense and stressful October as we juggle our scholastic duties with questioning every umpires’ call, gasping at each long fly ball, and second-guessing all of Joe Torre’s unsuccessful decisions. Dodger fans get excited for October because after baseball season, it turns into finals season.

Matthew Welde

Now that the new academic year is under-way, that means one thing: college football is on the horizon. By the time people are reading this the start of the season will be just a few weeks away. So, in the spirit of yearning, here’s a rundown of what I consider the three biggest games of the upcoming season. I am only considering regular season games, so that means no conference title games. Also, the most significant factor in what I mean by “big” is how the games affect the race for the BCS National Title. Away we go.

BRONZE MEDAL – NOTRE DAME VS….

Just kidding.

BRONZE MEDAL – FLORIDA GATORS AT LSU TIGERS – Oct. 10

The Gators are a near unanimous pick as the preseason No. #1 team. This game is almost certainly the toughest game on their schedule. Night games against the Tigers are very hard to win. If Florida is going to lose a game, chances are this will be it.

SILVER MEDAL – USC TROJANS AT OHIO STATE BUCKEYES – Sept. 12

Both teams should be top contenders. The winner gets a big boost from beating a quality opponent and the loser falls to the back of the pack. Thus, two top contenders for the Crystal Football have a lot on the line. This game falls short of the gold because the loser has almost the whole season to climb back into the race.

GOLD MEDAL – OKLAHOMA SOONERS VS. TEXAS LONGHORNS – Oct. 17

Both teams will start the season in the top three. The loser will probably be out of the conference title and the BCS National Title games. Also, anyone who follows college football should be having visions of airplane banners and asterisks right about now because of the way the Big 12 South championship played out last year.

Boomer Sooner.

SW has joined the trend of universities providing adequate health insurance programs to their students. Following in the trend, SW also made enrollment in a health insurance program mandatory as of Fall 2009 and provides other services for its students. Whether you choose the plan offered by SW or another plan it is important that the plan tailored to your needs.

Student health insurance is quickly becoming more prevalent, despite the fact that such plans are a relatively new part of the health insurance industry. Factors important in choosing among student health plans:

1. Know the plan’s benefits. What doctors are covered? (coverage, limitations on devices, drugs, access to specialists)

2. Does the plan have any authorization or referral requirements?

3. How much does it cost? (copayments, deductibles)

4. What are the plan exclusions? Are there any pre-existing condition limitations?

5. What are plan maximums?

6. If you are no longer a student, is there an option to extend coverage?

7. What are the deadlines?

8. Who is the health insurance carrier?

Student health plans became an alternative for many in their 20’s, without jobs, to whom adequate health insurance is out of reach. Insurance companies have coined this age-group “the young invincibles” because many think they will never get hurt and they are the least likely of any age-group to have coverage. Nearly 30 percent, 13.2 million, were uninsured in 2007, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based research center. Many turn to high deductible plans, otherwise known as catastrophic care plans, which have lower monthly premiums. The high deductible plans can reach up to $5,000 dollars, leading many to avoid care. While some students remain covered by their parents plan, others must find an alternative.

Some of the new health plans circulating in congress that benefit young adults feature income based subsidies for insurance premiums and expansions of Medicaid for the poorest. One plan even allows them to stay insured by their parents’ policies until they turn 26.

For young adults avidly watching as the new national health plans take shape, student health plans provide a good option for quality coverage. SW’s student health program, administered by the Kaiser Student Insurance Plan, prides itself for not having a pre-existing conditions clause. The plan has no deductible or lifetime maximum, $40 co-pays, $30 monthly prescriptions, $15 for generic, and an out-of-pocket maximum of $3,000 per year ($6,000 for a family of two or more). While dental insurance is not included in the plan, Wells Fargo Insurance Services offers an individual dental plan. Vision coverage includes a $40 co-pay for vision exams and a 20% discount on eyeglasses and contact lenses. The enrollment deadline for the annual and Fall semester is September 30 and for Spring/Summer it is February 26.

Kaiser Permanente is a Health Maintenance Organization that provides a range of benefits for a set fee. Kaiser is a staff model HMO, a specific type of HMO where the insurance company employs all the physicians and patients see physicians at a central medical facility. HMOs generally do not have deductibles and pay a co-pay for visits to physicians from the plan’s preferred list. HMO’s do not cover out of network care unless it is emergency care. The physician becomes the “gatekeeper” for all medical needs and referrals to specialists within the HMO network.

First year law student quickly realize that wellbeing extends beyond physical health and so does SW. Many students seek advice for coping with stress. Therefore, the Dean of Students at SW coordinates with Helpnet to provide students and their families two free sessions with a licensed therapist. Helpnet also locates community resources to help with personal problems, relationships, academic stress, financial and legal circumstances, substance abuse, and other unexpected situations that arise. Students can obtain more information about this program from the toll free hotline 1-800-HELP-NET or by contacting the DOS.

Options are available for students to stay healthy as they pursue their legal studies. The future of the country’s health program is unclear but students can rest assured that they have access to multiple resources as students.

By: Caroline Gotschall

As I am watching the news on various cable channels and see more and more “sensationalized” stories being presented, I cannot help but wonder how much of this is really news and how much of it is just entertainment. With the many, many channels all wanting the public to watch their channel so they can get the best ratings, it seems they have lost track of what they really started out being when our grandparents were our age.

Our grandparents had NBC, ABC, and CBS. That was it. What they got in that half-hour broadcast was the important news of the day. They trusted the broadcasters. Just look at the accolades that were recently delivered at the funeral of Walter Cronkite. Would there be similar words for any of today’s broadcast anchors at their funerals? Probably not.

Today’s news broadcasts are more entertainment than news. We hear more about the Octomom than some of the health care debate. We will have more stories dedicated to how Michael Jackson died than the number of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which stories have more real impact on our lives? I guess it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we are being entertained as we watch the news.

If we want to know about Michael Jackson or the Octomom, let’s watch “Entertainment Tonight” or “Access Hollywood.” Let the news channels concentrate on the hard news. Each has its place in the cable information age. We, as a society, should be getting smarter with the increased access we have to information through the information super-highway.

We are the leaders of tomorrow. We need to use our leadership skills to influence the news media to get out of the entertainment business and back into the news business. A better-educated and informed public would focus their energy on the important events in society and not be dragged into the abyss of mindlessness where many stories on today’s broadcasts seem to direct us.

Wake up NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and CNN! Think about the roots of broadcast journalism. Do something positive. You need to keep Cronkite from rolling over in his grave.

By: Chad Martin

I guess I really do not understand this whole summer thing. I mean, when I was younger summer was fun. Summer was a time that kids got away from school, but still got to see each other. It was hot outside, but the community pool was always an immediate possibility. There were fireflies, campouts, smores, ice cream nights, family vacations, and all of the other wonderful things that made summer, well, summer.

Fast forward about a decade and see what an “adult” summer looks like. It looks a lot like everyone after Thanksgiving dinner: full. And I don’t mean the good kind of full, I mean the kind of full immediately following Thanksgiving dinner, you know the kind that I am talking about—so full that you can’t even walk. “Adult summer” is full of, well, basically the same thing that every other part of the year has: a tango between you and school, work, meetings, and phone calls to friends that you never get to see because you are so busy with school, work, and meetings.

The pool has been replaced with bottles of Voss water, fireflies have been replaced with the blinking lights to notify people of voicemails on telephones, riding bikes with friends has turned into Skyping at odd hours of the night, and while family vacations may still exist, they now have a new needy guest that demands constant attention, the iPhone—a digital umbilical cord that allows the office to never leave the palm of an employees hand.

Now, I don’t want to sound like a downer, or as if I don’t enjoy work, because I really do. It is just that I used to think that summer was one of the simple joys in life, but now it appears that it is somewhat of a luxury. The commercials that show the people frolicking in the sun, at the beach, or at Disneyland sell a false sense of hope that I may be able to partake in some of those activities over the weekend. And alas, those hopes rarely come true.

It is not just my work that makes the summer seem like just any other part of the year, just much hotter (especially in a suit.) It does not help that every time I get a free moment my friends and family do not. I can’t say how many times a group of friends will plan something only to find out that half of the group has to work late on a project, or has fallen too far behind in the work day. Five years ago, I would have said that my friends were lying, but after doing it myself a couple of times, I realize that it is actually the truth.

Of course, employers do try to help when and where they can. Many employers in Los Angeles have instituted something called “Summer Days.” All this means is that on most Fridays, many employees get to leave early. Of course, getting to leave work early is a luxury that many people don’t have, especially in this “fewer employees means more work for everyone else.” If there is work to be done, then it needs to be done. But the lucky people that get to participate in the “Summer Days,” are often disappointed because they are surrounded by thousands of other people enjoying there summer days by leaving work early, thus causing immense amounts of traffic.

All of this leads me to a single point: childhood is over and it looks like “Adult summers” are here to stay. But don’t fret. I have spoken to many people that say it all gets better and easier with time. People get to a point that they can focus less on career, and more on family and friends. People find their way around the traffic, and those long summer nights you spent working might eventually even lead you to you very own backyard pool.

CA Supreme Court has long been the center of controversial decisions.

The State That Was Not Always Golden

Chad Derby

The California Supreme Court Historical Society held a colloquium at the Los Angeles Times on June 1. The topic of the colloquium was Civil and Uncivil Rights in California. However, the main cases and issues discussed involved uncivil rights. The panel of speakers included retired Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court Joseph R. Grodin, University of Delaware Prof. of Law Jean Pfaelzer, and UCLA Assist. Prof. Chicana & Chicano Studies Robert Romero.

The speakers presented cases that involved discrimination toward the Chinese immigrants in California and discussed the injustice of early anti-slave laws. In People v. Brady, 40 Cal. 198 (1870), a law prevented Chinese people from testifying against whites. Another case, in 1885, Tape v. Hurley, 66 Cal. 473 (1885), involved the right for Chinese children to attend school. The Tape’s daughter was denied admission to a public school due to her Chinese ancestry. The Court upheld the lower court’s decision to allow the Tape’s daughter to attend school. The Court stated that the board of education had the power “to make, establish, and enforce all necessary and proper rules and regulations not contrary to law.”

The mid- to late- 1800s were not a very proud era for California in terms of civil rights. In Foltz v. Hoge, 54 Cal. 28 (1879), the Court decided whether women could be barred from practicing law. Clara Foltz argued successfully and became the first woman on the West Coast to pass the bar. In addition, she wrote an amendment to section 275 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which set out qualifications for lawyers in California. Her proposed amendment deleted the words “any white male citizen” and substituted “any citizen or person. Cal. Stat. 1878, ch. 600, §§ 1-3, at 99. Subsequently, she also lobbied the California legislature to adopt the amendment to change the law that denied women the right to become lawyers. In the end, she successfully got the governor to approve the bill.

The California Supreme Court Historical Society provided a plethora of California civil rights history. To see what future events will be held, check http://cschs.org/.

Danielle Foster, Vice President, Student Bar Association

On behalf of the SW Student Bar Association (SBA) I would like to say: welcome to all of the new 1L students, and welcome back to all returning students. I hope everyone is as excited as I am about the 2009-2010 academic year. The SBA is committed to ensuring that the student body has a successful and enjoyable experience here at SW, and we each look forward to meeting and talking with all of you.

To boost SW’s professionalism, the SBA is proud to announce that we are planning to provide a suit closet in which students may store business attire for those times when you forgot about a school event and all you have to wear is ripped jeans and flip-flops — it happens… often.

Further, to kick off Public Interest Week, SBA is hosting our first Casino Night. We anticipate this will be a big night out where students will have the opportunity to play poker against their professors and mingle with friends, all while raising money for the Public Interest Law Committee. Also, the SBA has been donated several copies of various hornbooks, Examples & Explanations, and Emmanuel Outlines for 1L and bar courses. To aid students in saving some cash, we plan to make these available for check out to the student body.

Wow, what a great year this is going to be! Please stop by our office and say hello and if you are interested in becoming involved in the SBA this year. We will hold an information session on Sept. 2. We need energetic, responsible students to help us run all of these events over the next year.

We have a ton of fun and exciting student activities coming up and we look forward to seeing each and every one of you at the bar reviews, on-campus events, Barrister’s Ball, alumni mixers, community events, cultural food fairs, and much, much more.

Our office is located on the second floor of the Westmoreland building, room W232. Please stop by any time and meet the executive board and directors, ask any questions, or just hang out if you would like. See you around.

Comic-Con 2009, the Ultimate Geek-Fest

By: Sarah Mazkoori

This year’s convention was held July 23-26 and included highlights such as five minutes of footage of Iron Man 2, starring Robert Downey Jr., Scartlett Johansson, and Sam Rockwell, and teasers from season three of True Blood, as well as footage from the long anticipated Spike Jonze film, Where the Wild Things Are.

For the uninitiated, Comic-Con convention started in 1970 with 300 comic-book enthusiasts gathering in San Diego to celebrate their love of comics. In the late 1990s, Hollywood started to see the convention’s potential as a marketing gold mine. These days, the convention is the perfect place to trot out the big names, answer fan questions, screen footage and, basically, ignite a frenzy. More than 125,000 people attend the convention, and purists wonder if the convention has lost some of its geek cred.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights:

Director Robert Zemeckis, the stars of Tron 2.0, and director Tim Burton spoke at the Disney 3-D panel about the upcoming Alice In Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp.

Director James Cameron blew the collective minds of panel attendees when he screened 25 minutes of never-before-seen 3-D footage from the hotly anticipated Avatar. Cameron also made an intriguing announcement: On Aug. 21, Twentieth Century Fox is attempting to reserve as many 3-D and IMAX theaters as they can, worldwide, to show 15 minutes of Avatar — for free.

The cast of Showtime’s Dexter hit San Diego to premiere new footage, an animated web series, and an iPhone app — and to introduce the series’ newest guest star: John Lithgow.

Writer Terry Gilliam showed clips from Heath Ledger’s final film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. ”Heath would’ve been the greatest actor of his generation,” Gilliam said.

Actor Seth Rogen and director Michel Gondry unveiled a first look at the car of the eponymous hero in their upcoming superhero flick The Green Hornet, which starts shooting late this summer.

In the Sony Pictures panel, producer Peter Jackson answered burning questions about The Hobbit before wowing the crowd with footage from the upcoming alien refugee film District 9. And actors Paul Bettany and Tyrese Gibson traded gibes through their panel for the Biblical thriller Legion.

The marathon Warner Bros. panel was packed with stars: actors Robert Downey Jr. and Rachel McAdams for Sherlock Holmes, Cameron Diaz and James Marsden for the psychological thriller The Box, Josh Brolin and Megan Fox for the western horror flick Jonah Hex, and Where the Wild Things Are star Max Records charmed the crowd with footage from the long-anticipated Spike Jonze film.

ABC announced that former Lost star Dominic Monaghan will star in its new Lost-ian series Flashforward.

Who’s voicing the Ken doll in Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3? Would you believe the man who headlined Beetlejuice?

Woody Harrelson pulled double duty on panels for the apocalyptic disaster film 2012 and the self-explanatory horror comedy Zombieland.