Constitutional and Administrative Law Scholarship and Impact

New Center at UC Law SF Confronts Challenges to Democracy and Civil Rights

UC Law SF has established the Center for Constitutional Democracy, led by national privacy and civil liberties expert Nicole Ozer.

The center will serve as an academic hub and action center to advance and defend constitutional rights and democratic principles, including privacy, due process, free speech, and separation of powers. It will bring together attorneys, community leaders, advocates, and scholars from key disciplines to produce influential research, develop innovative educational and practice experiences for students, and lead high-impact legal projects in courts, legislatures, and communities.

National Constitutional Leaders Confront Threats to the Rule of Law

Leading scholars and public officials from across the nation gathered at UC Law San Francisco in November for an all-day symposium on “The Rule of Law and Threats to Democracy” organized by faculty members. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and legal experts assessed expanding executive power, legal challenges to democratic norms, and the critical role lawyers play in safeguarding core freedoms. Panels explored state responses to federal actions, impacts on academic freedom, and the rights of noncitizens amid intensified immigration enforcement.

Jodi Short’s Article Wins ACS Writing Award

Jodi Short received the American Constitution Society’s 2025 Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition for her article The Moral Turn in Administrative Law. The selection committee praised the piece for advancing Judge Cudahy’s legacy of incisive, impactful scholarship on regulation and governance. Short’s work offers a substantive contribution to administrative law at a moment when federal agencies face heightened scrutiny and political pressure.

Christina Koningisor Wins National Award for Press Freedom Scholarship

Christina Koningisor and coauthor Lyrissa Lidsky of the University of Florida were awarded the 2025 Harry Stonecipher Award for Outstanding Research for their article First Amendment Disequilibrium, published in the Virginia Law Review.

The honor, conferred by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, recognizes scholarship that shapes national debates on press freedom.

Zachary Price Emerges as Leading National Voice on Executive Power

Zachary Price has become a leading national commentator on executive power, frequently sought by top news outlets for analysis of constitutional constraints on presidential authority. His recent scholarship—including influential work on appropriations presidentialism—has shaped public understanding of separation-of-powers issues at a critical moment for democratic governance.

New Faculty

Kate Weisburd joins the UC Law San Francisco faculty from George Washington University School of Law, where students voted her professor of the year. Kate’s articles, which focus on intersections of criminal and constitutional law, have appeared in the Virginia, California, and UCLA Law Reviews, among others, and have won multiple peer-conferred awards.

Prithika Balakrishnan, who was previously the C. Keith Wingate Visiting Professor at UC Law San Francisco, has joined the faculty full time. She previously was a federal public defender, union organizer, and Peace Corps volunteer. Her article Mass Surveillance as Racialized Control Recently was published in UCLA Law Review.

UC Law SF Professors Secure Supreme Court Victory for Federal Employee Rights

Center for Litigation and Courts Director and Distinguished Professor Scott Dodson wrote the winning case briefs while CLC Research Professor Joshua Davis argued live before the Court’s nine justices in Washington, D.C. The result was a unanimous opinion in favor of their client, Stuart Harrow.

Arguments by Profs. Emily Murphy, Matt Coles Cited in SCOTUS Case on Expert Testimony

In a case challenging whether experts can opine on a defendant’s likely mental state, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson penned a concurring opinion citing arguments co-written by Professors Emily Murphy and Matt Coles along with University of Utah Law Professor Teneille Brown.