Library News

On June 21, 2021 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, holding that colleges may pay some education-related benefits to college athletes, a practice that the National Collegiate Athletic Association has long banned. Under the NCAA rules, college athletes are limited to receiving only scholarships, books, room and board, and other costs of attending college.

UC Davis students may use many law school database accounts over the summer and after graduation. Here are the policies:

Lexis

Summer Access:

Students will automatically have free unlimited use of their law school Lexis+ ID this summer. This includes workplace-related research, though students should check with their employer. Many employers prefer summer associates use an employer-issued Lexis ID. No special registration is required for summer access. Students should sign into their existing Lexis accounts.

A unanimous May 6 opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld CalSavers, a state-sponsored program established in 2017 to provide retirement benefits for private workers whose employers do not offer pensions or 401(k) programs. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had sued the program on the basis of preemption by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, an argument that the court rejected.

On May 17, 2021 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 9-0 decision in Caniglia v. Strom, holding that the community caretaking exception is not a standalone exception permitting warrantless search and seizures in the home. The Supreme Court found the lower court's application of a warrantless search and seizure exception from Cady v.

According to ABA data, 70% of 2020 ABA-accredited law school graduates had full-time, long-term jobs that required bar passage. 70 out of the 197 ABA-accredited law schools saw increases in this job category in 2020 from 2019. About half of the jobs are at law firms and the rest are a mix of solo practitioners, business, government, public interest, clerkships, and education positions.

California Senate Bill 2, authored by state Senator Steven Bradford, proposes empowering the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to license police officers and to investigate and decertify officers convicted of a serious crime or fired for misconduct. The bill would also make it easier to sue such officers for monetary damages and would empower the Commission to make public all records related to decertification proceedings.

Self-Help Centers in California courts have remained accessible during the last year despite shutdowns and have continued to expand services since Fiscal Year 2018-2019. A recent Judicial Council report to the Legislature analyzed the impact of self-help centers and critical legal services for Californians.

On March 25, 2021, the California Supreme Court ruled that judges must consider an individual's ability to pay when setting bail, and that a person may not be detained only because they cannot post bail. In addition, judges may detain an individual only if there is no other restrictive way to protect public safety. The decision came down amidst a national debate over the constitutionality of cash bail and its impact on those who cannot afford it.

President Biden has created, through Executive Order, a 36-member bipartisan commission to study and analyze Supreme Court reform.

On March 8, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8-1 decision in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, holding that an evangelical Christian college student had standing to pursue his claim for nominal damages against a public college for alleged freedom of speech violations. This standing existed even thought the college changed the campus speech policies at issue after the lawsuit was filed.