DISCOVERY presented by UW Law

On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against race-based admissions at college campuses nationwide after hearing companion cases by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) that challenged admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC). SFFA overturned the 2003 ruling by a more liberal Supreme Court in the case Grutter v. Bollinger, which affirmed that a student's race could be used as one of multiple factors in admissions decisions at the University of Michigan.

Affirmative action was rejected by the conservative majority on the bench, which agreed that UNC's policies violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and that Harvard's affirmative action plan discriminates against Asian American students, a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But did it really change the way campus admissions will operate?

In their forthcoming paper in the Texas Law Review, "The Goose and the Gander: How Conservative Precedents Will Save Campus Affirmative Action," Professor Guha Krishnamurthi of the University of Maryland Carey Law School contends (along with his co-author Peter Salib) that though affirmative action is legally dead, race will still figure into holistic admissions procedures-- just not as a check-box item.

In this episode of Discovery, we speak with Prof. Krishnamurthi about the previous state of play in race-based admissions and his opinion that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling against campus affirmative action has no practical effect on the way schools operate. He argues that due to the Supreme Court's decades-old rulings that statistical proof cannot carry a constitutional discrimination claim, universities will only be liable in litigation if they admit that they practice affirmative action, so most schools will pursue diversity by other means, simply by operating in the shadows.

Over the last half century, Congress has passed strong laws relating to environmental protection, covering a range of resources and industries. Despite these bold and comprehensive laws, implementation can be challenging, especially when it comes to the court system's interpretation of them.

Sanne Knudsen, the Stimson Bullitt Endowed Professor of Environmental Law at UW Law, calls out the United States Supreme Court as being hostile or apathetic towards environmental laws, despite their often-strong language. She believes environmental law is a rational response to the fact that earth has finite resources and they need to be protected.

In this episode, Professor Knudsen calls on Congress to enact the Environmental Judicial Review Act — as she calls it — to remind the courts that Congress passes environmental legislation to ensure environmental protection. By passing a comprehensive act, Congress could reaffirm the values and strength of existing environmental laws, while also addressing pressing issues such as climate change.

On March 20, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Arizona v. Navajo Nation, a case in which UW Law professor Monte Mills, director of the Native American Law Center, filed an amicus brief with other professors and the Native American Rights Fund on February 8, 2023. The brief requests that the Court acknowledge that the Winters water rights doctrine, established in 1908, enforces the fiduciary duty of the federal government to reserve adequate water, in this case the entire Colorado River, at the creation of an Indian reservation in one of the driest parts of the country.

In this episode, we discuss with Professor Monte Mills how the Winters doctrine is a foundational component to water resource management in the West and foundational to the exercise of the United States' trust duties to protect and secure tribal reserved water rights. Arizona v. Navajo Nation dwells at the intersection of Native treaty rights and water rights, and the court's decision could have serious ramifications.

Monte Mills joined the UW Law faculty in 2022 as the Charles I. Stone Professor of Law and director of the Native American Law Center (NALC). Monte's research and writing focuses on the intersection of Federal Indian Law, Tribal sovereignty, and natural resources as well as race and racism in the law and legal education.

As part of UW Law's storytelling around Black History Month, the Discovery podcast interviewed Dr. Kara Swanson, professor of law and affiliate professor of history at Northeastern University in Boston, about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. This lesser-known event, which Dr. Swanson calls the "racially motivated wholesale destruction of a community," details the tragedy that befell the lives and property of the residents of the Greenwood area of Tulsa, Oklahoma – otherwise known as Black Wall Street – on May 31 and June 1, 1921.

The Tulsa Race Massacre is not part of the property law curriculum in legal education but has much to teach us. History shows us that racial identity is significant to questions of property, so there are costs and consequences to excluding such events. The basic principle of trespass failed to withstand anti-Black racism. In this episode, Dr. Swanson takes the listeners on her journey of discovery and reflection of what we might learn if property law was taught with knowledge of the Tulsa Race Massacre and other events connected to race.

Dr. Swanson shares her scholarship on the law of trespass from a 2021 symposium, "The Tulsa Race Massacre: What's Race Got to Do With It?" which marked the tragedy's 100th anniversary. Dr. Swanson will be speaking with the 1L Perspective students at UW Law in March. A property law professor with interests in legal history, intellectual property law, gender and sexuality, and the history of science, medicine, and technology, Dr. Swanson has a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard University. Before entering law school, she was a published research scientist.

U.S. Attorney Nicholas Brown is the first black U.S. attorney in Washington state history and the chief law enforcement officer in Western Washington. He chairs the Civil Rights subcommittee for all U.S. attorneys in the country. Brown recently visited UW Law as part of the Innovative Justice Speaker Series.

A former "Survivor" alumnus from one of the first seasons, U.S. Attorney Brown is a Morehouse and Harvard Law School graduate who has served as General Counsel to Governor Inslee, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney in western Washington. Before his current appointment He was also a partner with Pacifica Law Group.

In this episode kicking off Black History Month at UW Law, U.S. Attorney Brown defines the meaning of justice and how he works with communities and federal partners to improve public safety and to ensure civil rights for Western Washington residents.

Many of the performers and composers in legacy Black music have never been compensated for their cultural production, despite longstanding acceptance of their formative influence on the music industry. Copyright law doctrine includes formalities that continue to divest what is due to Black artists, widening the racial justice gap in the entertainment industry.

A Yale Law School graduate and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Kevin J. Greene is changing the industry and the legal academy on the issue of racial justice in intellectual property. He is the John J. Schumacher Chair and Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. Prof. Greene has represented artists like George Clinton, Spike Lee, Harry Connick Jr., Bobby Brown and rap group Public Enemy. He has been featured in the Netflix show "Explained" and quoted by media outlets such as Bloomberg, Wired, The Daily Beast and Rolling Stone magazine.

In this episode, Prof. Greene tells us about "The New Copyright Manifesto," a proposal to overturn outdated and unjust practices and appeal to the U.S. Copyright Office to advocate for reparations. He outlines how copyright registrations and copyright terminations divest Black cultural production and explains why this is not just an American copyright law problem, but a global one.

In 2020, the police-involved killings of Manuel Ellis in Tacoma and George Floyd in Minneapolis were two cases among many incidents across the nation which led to the recent establishment of the Office of Independent Investigations (OII) earlier this summer in Olympia. Signed into law by Governor Inslee, the OII is a civilian-led agency that conducts investigations into police-involved incidents of serious harm or death. The agency's creation offers an opportunity to improve public faith in police accountability.

In June 2022, Roger Rogoff became director of the new OII. Rogoff's career in the criminal justice system spans 27 years, including roles as judge in King County Superior Court as well as in the juvenile courts, and as both prosecuting and criminal defense attorney. In addition to serving as assistant U.S. attorney, Rogoff most recently served as legal counsel for Microsoft on matters of data privacy and public safety. As Gov. Inslee stated, "Roger's experiences make him exceptionally suited to lead an agency, independent of law enforcement or the governor's office, to investigate cases."

In this episode, Rogoff details how the OII is working thoughtfully and efficiently to fulfill its mission. He explains the office's priorities for its first six months, law enforcement's response to the agency's creation, the way the OII will work with other parties, employment prospects, and how OII roles like family liaisons and community liaisons address the need for transparency around investigations of police use of force.

Sexual assault affects many Washingtonians, but justice does not always come to survivors and their families. In many cases these violent felonies and sexually motivated offenses become cold cases.

As a participant in the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), Washington's Office of the Attorney General received multiple grants ꟷ totaling $5.5 million ꟷ from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the state's rape kit backlog languishing in the evidence rooms of local agencies, law enforcement's need for trauma-informed training and assistance in identifying and contacting offenders who owe DNA samples as part of their sentence. In 2020, the Office worked with the DOJ to re-purpose nearly $300K to create sub-grants for forensic genetic genealogy testing through which cold cases constituting violent felonies and have been solved. The goal is to test every backlogged rape kit in the state by the end of 2022.

Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson serves the people and state of Washington as the 18th attorney general. He was first elected in 2012 and reelected in 2016 and 2020. Prior to serving as attorney general, Ferguson was a member of the King County Council. As the state's chief legal officer, he directs attorneys and professional staff in 27 divisions that provide legal services to more than 230 state agencies, boards and commissions.

The Seattle Mariners have a three-pronged mission: to win championships, create unforgettable experiences for fans, guests and employees, and to serve their communities. In the first episode of Season Five, we take you out to the proverbial ball game for a discussion with Mariners' Executive Vice President/General Counsel Fred Rivera about how the Mariners are delivering on their mission. We hear about the Mariners' new lease at T-Mobile Park, the $80M in the ballpark's capital improvements, and the Club's community programs.

Fred Rivera visited UW Law in the spring as a special guest of our Entertainment Law Association. He shared with students, and now shares with us, how he pivoted to sports law after time as a civil rights lawyer for the Department of Justice and 18 years at Perkins Coie, where he was Managing Partner of the Seattle office.

In 2017, Rivera became the Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel for the Seattle Mariners. He oversees the club's legal and government affairs department, leads new business initiatives relating to real estate development, and manages the club's external functions like community relations and the Mariners Care Foundation.

Copyright law is written in such a way that suggests copyright is a grant of rights to authors, rewarding them with the commercial advantages of producing original work. However, upon closer examination, consumers who want to build on existing works of authorship also have rights that are protected.

Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at the University of California at Berkeley. She is recognized as a pioneer in digital copyright law, intellectual property, cyber law and information policy. She recently visited UW Law to give the 2022 Toni Rembe lecture on copyright law and consumer protection.

In this final episode of Season Four, Professor Samuelson, also the co-founder and chair of the Authors Alliance, shares how the primary goal of copyright law is to induce people to write and disseminate creative work so the public has access to knowledge. Many people might be surprised that rewards to the author is actually a secondary consideration in the overall goal of copyright law.