----Press Release

MEDIA ADVISORY
June 20, 2003

Contact: Allegra Churchill, EJS, (415) 288-8700

BAY AREA LEGAL SCHOLARS, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES TO RESPOND TO U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING IN UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASES

WILL SPEAK TO IMPACT IN POST-209 CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO -- The United States Supreme Court is expected to issue decisions next week (probably Monday or Thursday) in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger, the cases brought by white applicants to challenge the admissions programs at the University of Michigan and its Law School. The cases have been called the most crucial civil rights rulings in a quarter century.

Leading northern California legal scholars, attorneys and civil rights advocates will be available on the day of the rulings to comment on the decision and its potential impact in California.

Pamela S. Karlan: Ms. Karlan is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School; she is the counsel of record for the Association of American Law Schools, which filed an amicus brief supporting the University of Michigan in Grutter v. Bollinger.

Eric Brooks: After the passage of Proposition 209, Mr. Brooks was the only African-American in his law school class at U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall; he graduated Boalt in 2000 and is now an attorney in San Francisco.

Equal Justice Society (EJS): Eva Paterson, Executive Director 415/543- 9444. Ms Paterson, the new Executive Director of the EJS, a national civil rights leader and a self-described "affirmative action recipient" has litigated, educated and organized around racial justice issues for many years.

Tobias Wolff: Mr. Wolff is a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and an EJS Board Member.

Oren Sellstrom: Mr. Sellstrom is a Staff Attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and is an EJS Board Member.

MALDEF: Maria Blanco is National Senior Counsel of the MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

ACLU-NC : Dorothy Ehrlich, Maya Harris West: Ms. Ehrlich is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California. Ms. Harris West is the Director of the ACLU-NC Racial Justice Project.

Chinese for Affirmative Action: Ted Wang is the Policy Director for Chinese for Affirmative Action.

Law Professors:

Bill Ong Hing is a Professor of Law and Asian American Studies at U. C. Davis.

Maria Ontiveros is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco.

Professor Stephanie Wildman teaches at the University of Santa Clara Law School, where she is the Director of its Center of Social Justice and Public Service; she is the past President of SALT, the Society of American Law Teachers.

Law Students:

Guy Johnson is at Boalt Hall School of Law and the President of the Coalition for Diversity. Email: gaj@boalthall.berkeley.edu.

Anthony Solana is at UCLA, and is co-author of an amicus brief to the Supreme Court from Students of Color Against the Resegregation of Education.
Email: solana@2003.law.ucla.edu.

Yungsuhn Park is Vice President of the Boalt Hall Students' Association and Campus Affairs Director for the Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association. Email: ysp@boalthall.berkeley.edu.

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