Bench & Bar: August 20

Stories in this week's episode:

The radicalism of Clarence Thomas

UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky examines Thomas concurrences from last term arguing equal protection doesn't bind the federal government, Congress's commerce power is limited to cross-state transactions, and the Sixth Amendment provides no right to appointed counsel -- positions that would overturn decades of settled constitutional law.

A jury is only as fair as who gets to sit

Retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Philip Pennypacker responds to coverage of Justice Goodwin Liu's jury bias jurisprudence, arguing perceived bias cannot justify excluding a juror without compromising the verdict -- and that recent legislation will demand more vigilance from trial judges throughout selection.

Variety Media: The appeal that could decide whether CIPA applies to website technologies

With oral argument set for August 25th, Variety Media v. Superior Court may produce the first published California appellate decision on whether the state's 1967 pen register statute reaches IP addresses and metadata collected by routine website technologies. Wilson Elser's Jana Slavina Farmer and Lioba Bakker break down what's at stake.