School Notes: Yale Law School
November/December 2010

Students play key role in historic Proposition 8 marriage case

A federal judge’s ruling in early August on same-sex couples’ right to marry was welcome news to Yale Law School students intimately involved in the case. On August 4, Judge Vaughn Walker declared that California’s Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in California, violated the federal Constitution. The students had worked on the case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, as part of their participation in the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project (SFALP) working with the San Francisco city attorney’s office. SFALP cofounder and faculty advisor Heather Gerken, the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, said, “The students did an incredible amount of work on the case and often worked under intense timelines. But they were thrilled to do it.” The San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project is funded by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School.

Justices examine technology at constitutionalism seminar

In September, Yale Law School hosted its fourteenth Global Constitutionalism Seminar, an event that brings together leading Supreme Court and Constitutional Court justices from around the world to discuss in strict confidentiality important legal issues of the day. The theme of this year’s seminar was “Technological Revolutions.” Fourteen justices attended, including U.S. Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer by speakerphone, as well as justices from Italy, Canada, Israel, Hong Kong, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Topics discussed included freedom of speech and the Internet, surveillance and the right to anonymity, organ transplantation, and technology and the laws of armed conflict. Justice Brun-Otto Bryde of the Constitutional Court of Germany gave remarks on Friday, and Harvard Law professor Yochai Benkler, faculty codirector of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, spoke on Saturday. The Global Constitutionalism Seminar was founded in 1996 to promote international understanding of common issues of constitutional law.

Alumni Weekend 2010 explores science and law

Yale Law School alumni, faculty, students, and friends gathered on campus in New Haven October 8–10 for Alumni Weekend 2010, “A Weekend Odyssey Exploring Science and Law.” The weekend included a series of panel discussions examining how advances in science have changed our lives and affected the law. Discussion topics ranged from science and the three branches of government, to the law and emerging technologies, to the “CSI effect” and how popular conceptions of criminal proof may affect the criminal process. Other highlights included an all-alumni reception and dinner on Friday night and a presentation on Saturday of the Yale Law School Award of Merit. This year’s award went to four individuals who were instrumental to the founding of the Natural Resources Defense Council: James Gustave Speth ’64, ’69LLB; Richard Ayres ’69MA, ’69LLB; Edward Strohbehn Jr. ’62, ’63BE, ’66MA, ’69LLB; and John Bryson ’69LLB. A student-alumni breakfast on Saturday morning matched alumni with current students to chat about common areas of interest.