California Live!: Fighting Back: Berkeley Law’s Claudia Polsky on Taking Trump to Court

Since Donald Trump’s reelection, universities have found themselves caught between principle and self-preservation. Should they stand up and risk getting cut down, or stay low and hope to escape the cross fire? For Professor Claudia Polsky, this has never been a question. Determined to confront the administration’s assault on higher education, she spearheaded a class action suit that has, so far, restored nearly a billion dollars in research funding to UC scientists and scholars. The litigation is ongoing.

Join California editor Pat Joseph in conversation with Professor Polsky about the ongoing threats to American science and research, the rule of law, and what it means to fight back.

Claudia Polsky is a Clinical Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Berkeley Law. Before launching the clinic, she spent eighteen years as a public sector and public interest environmental litigator: fourteen as a Deputy Attorney General in the Environment Section of the California Department of Justice, and four at Earthjustice and Public Citizen Litigation Group. She has litigated cases in trial and appellate courts, including the US Supreme Court; testified before Congress and the California legislature; and drafted and successfully defended environmental regulations.

Check-in begins at 6 PM. A wine reception with Claudia Polsky will follow the program.

About California Live!

The California Live! series presents some of Berkeley’s most distinguished faculty and alumni discussing today’s most pressing issues. In partnership with BAMPFA, the Cal Alumni Association and its award-winning California magazine invite you to join us for our next episode. Tickets to this event include free access to the galleries at BAMPFA and a wine reception.