Erwin’s ’Ermits: UCI Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky Depicts an Extreme Supreme Court
by Jim Washburn
Something I like about our new block is that three of our neighbors think it's a great mid-day getaway to go hear UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky discuss Supreme Court decisions. I rarely even notice these events in the paper anymore, and I'm glad they're more plugged in.
The campus' University Club was bulging with interested people. Extra seats were brought in. The buffet line snaked like a snake. Chemerinsky's appearance was delayed to accommodate the crowd. It was like a Cher concert.
It would almost be worth being a lawyer to be able to have him as an instructor. He struck me as a natural educator, where the path is clear to him that mankind can improve itself, and that it's done by sparking one sharp, discerning mind at a time. It's always a pleasure hearing a guy like that talk, plus the buffet was at the upper tier of institutional food. All this for only $13.50, gratuity included, which was good because I would feel awkward tipping a college dean in person.
Chemerinsky started by talking about the fledgling law school, and remarked that he and his fellow instructors had never seen better students; that above and beyond their scores, a total of 58 students out of the class of 60 volunteered for pro bono work. (You almost have to admire the nerve of the two who didn't.)
Talking about the Supreme Court as it is presently constituted-which is how it will be for the rest of many of our lives--Chemerinsky painted a dire picture. He was measured. He didn't dwell on whether a liberal court was more just or correct than is our stridently conservative 5-4 majority. But he did make it clear the majority would be holding sway for a long, long time, and that it certainly fits the definition of an activist court, in that places no great value on precedent and that it shows no great reticence in striking down laws. Great news if you're a conservative, Chemerinsky noted, while liberals can perhaps grab some small solace for the fact that the court has been taking on dramatically fewer cases than it has in the past.
The grandest example he cited of the court's reach was the recent decision ruling that corporations have the same rights as individuals as regards making unfettered political contributions. Along with reversing court opinions as recent as 2003, it negated over a century of settled law, while it clearly will have a marked effect on the fairness of our elections.
He also noted that the conservatives have been ruling in near lockstep for business interests versus environmental concerns, and that they actively don't believe in a wall between religion and the state. He predicts they'll soon rule that states and municipalities cannot have any gun control laws. Christ, even towns in the Old West had gun control laws. These humble, respectful justices are going to reverse Wyatt Earp.
We're basically screwed. With Justice Roberts just turned 55, Chemerinsky remarked that he could still be serving four decades from now, so if I have the fortune to live to be 100, it'll still be under the dark shadow cast by the Roberts court. If I'd like to become sanguine about that, I'd better start shooting black tar heroin today.
One person in the room seemed consistently upbeat through Chemerinsky's speech, and that was Chemerinsky himself. I admire that he can predict such a dire future for the law and seem so undaunted by the challenge it presents. Maybe he likes a good fight. Maybe, like Gandhi, he's thinking of the long game, of long, slow progress over generations, and the part education might play in that.
He answered several intelligent questions, ran out of time and offered to come back and do it again sometime. Along with being one of the eminent legal scholars of our day, who has himself pled important cases before the Supreme Court, I can't help but think that he'd enjoy answering some more concrete questions, long questions all beginning like, "My brother-in-law took my El Camino, and then his tramp wife wrecked the seats..." See you there!
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