law. >> host: well, let's show you professor posner's book so you get an idea of what he does write about n. 2000 he published his first book, and that was "the law and social norms." he's also written "the perils of global legalism." that came out in 2009. now, professor posener has co-authored several books. that includes the limits of international law, the new foundations of cost-benefit analysis, terror in the balance, climate change justice, and the the executive unbound, and i want to start with that one if we could, professor posener, the executive unbound. in my reading of that book, is it fair to say that you write the separation of powers as established in the united states is not working? >> guest: that's right. it's not working. it's eroded over the centuries, and the result is that the executive, the president, has become much more powerful than the founders had anticipated when they designed the constitutional system in the 18th century. >> host: is that a bad thing? >> gues

law." the reason i liked "l.a. law" was that it was about the kind of business of law. you know? a lot of it was about the real, you know, business. you have to work hard in that context to get drama. it's harder to write a show like "l.a. law" because you have to find drama almost in the ordinary practice of law. to my way of thinking, you know, doing a crime show or even a criminal defense show, that's the easy stuff to do. you know? there's drama that's inherent in it. the hard stuff to do is say, like "the paper chase" where they're going to the library. really. so you've got to figure out a way to make that interesting. we did a show called "scavenger hunt," a massive search through all the libraries. and it's actually a very exciting show. but when we went to the network, they said, what are you shooting? we said we're shooting an episode with seven libraries. and they were like, we got to cancel this. how did osborn get here? you know? that's the hard kind of stuff for television. i'd like to see more of that. i am so sick of "law & order." [laughing] and all of that stuff

no one is above or below the law. the rule of frame is the street people cannot sleep under the bridge, but the chief of police and the district attorney cannot sleep und

segregation was still not yet against the law. and particularly for white southerners, this novel, which caught on, you know, famously and quickly, it gave white southerners a way to think about how they were raised and to think about the system in which they were raised. it did so perhaps in a way that a political speech didn't do because it was told through the eyes of a child. it was a popular story that wasn't just about race, it about growing up in a small town. it was about coming of age. it was about love. it was about lonliness. it had all the suspense. the novel had so many elements with which to draw people in. >> so the tremendous amount of -- about harper lee. i know she never wrote another book. it was a pulitzer prize-winning book, and the film won the academy award. and yet she never wrote another book. what did you learn about harper lee and her reasons? >> well, i was fortunate enough to get great access to two very close friends of her. a new york city couple who gave their friend, harper lee, money. they remain

most major law firms have law libraries. most government law offices have them. i have always wondered what metrics exist as to what the demand is for our law library system, so i would be interested in knowing and understanding that. is there a specific reason why we have to have our own as opposed to sharing with another system? >> first of all, our law library was established in 1865 and became a public law library in 1870, and it was first in the state, and it became the model for the statewide county law library system. enabling legislation and the charter provide that it gets very limited funding from the county, which is primarily quarters, facilities, and three salaries. the law library originally had been serving the legal profession. over the last 20 years, there are so many more ordinary citizens coming to the law library. whether it is because there's just more interest in the law from television or whatever it may be, and those are the people that particular the need services because it is very complex, as you know. it is difficult for them to know h

law and happiness, what does law have to do with happiness? >> well, it doesn't have that much to do with happiness. it maybe has more to do with unhappiness, but there's this movement going on which is quite interesting which, you know, so the government when it passes a low or adopts a policy, it has to think about how it affects people, and often a method they use is cost benefit analysis and figure out how much people would be willing to pay for this and willing to pay to avoid this. a standard example is let's shut down some paper mills because they are issuing pollution that is causing harm. in order to decide whether to shut them down or to let them continue to operate, well, we look at how much people are willing to pay to avoid the harm, you know, and compare that to the, you know, the higher cost of paper. the happiness approach, which has been proposed by psychologists and some economists, say you shouldn't look at how much people are willing to pay because ultimately that doesn't measure what matter which is their happynd or subjec

no one is above or below the law. the rule of frame is the street people cannot sleep under the bridge, but the chief of police and the district attorney cannot sleep under the bridge. see how fair it is? it's equal. isn't it? [applause] >> actually, we'll have the d.a. here and the chief of police. so we can ask them that question. [laughing] now, sheldon, you've written books about a fictional defense attorney. the stories that you tell really get into, i think, the issues and stories of our time. and that's why your books have been so popular. first of all, you know, how did you become a writer? why did you become a writer? and how did you end up writing did a criminal defense attorney in san francisco, of all places? >> i was not told i would follow tony serra. i need to go back and prepare a little more. [laughing] i learned something, too. i guess i better stand up. [laughing] i'm really honored to be here. i'm the toy department. i write novels about the types of cases that lawyers like tony handle. in the dayt

if you went to law school, the one book you would have read before going to law school was "the paper chase," and this is a book that john j. osborn wrote. has really become a classic. and it, of course, spawned an oscar-award winning film, same name, and also a television series. he's also written an incredible article about "to kill a mockingbird," so we're going to ask him about that. next we have paulette frankl. and paulette is a courtroom sketch artist. now, how cool is that? that's a pretty cool job, and she spends a lot of time in the courtroom and that's how she came across tony serra. and she spent 17 years, 17 years compiling the incredible book that she's put together that just came out and is called "lush for justice," and it's a book of incredible illustrations, artwork as well as a narrative. and right next to her we have tony serra, and tony serra is the most prolific trial lawyer of our times. he's tried more cases than any other living lawyer. if you ever had a chance to see him in court, it's just a sight to behold. it really is. we're so grateful that he could be h

law. and other legal fields, contract law and banking law as well. >> host: you are the kirkland and posner professors at the university of chicago. what does that mean? >> that is given to professors when they reach a certain level when they're old enough to get one. doesn't mean anything beyond that. >> host: let's establish your pedigree right off the bat. you are judge richard posner's sun. >> guest: he is the judge of the second circuit court of appeals. he was an academic at the university of chicago law school. he is well known for a variety of opinions on various things. in the legal world he is best known for introducing economics to the law. >> host: let's show you professor posner's book so you get an idea what he writes about. he published his first book in 2000 and that was "law and social norms". he has also written "the perils of global legalism" that came out in 2009. professor posner has co-authored several books including limits of international law," "new foundations of

that new law, this new law does the same thing. there's a new payroll tax in a supposedly applies to people with incomes just about $200,000 a year. for individuals, 250 if you're a couple. but those income thresholds are not indexed for inflation so as time goes on more and more people, in fact by 2030 those thresholds will be the government of about $130,000 today. so the fact that the president always has rich people will be paying for this bill is simply not true. finally, there's the impact on senior citizens. the remarkable thing that occurred last august really didn't get enough attention was that the president, medicare trustees may report on the medicaid program, and it's about a 300 page document. and his own in the last two or three pages that you get to the punchline, which was the person most responsible for producing this particular document voter statement of actuarial opinion, as he does every year, and in this particular statement he basically said in so many words, don't believe all the numbers that preceded the s

our next department is the law library. before we begin the presentation, however, i want to give everybody noticed we will likely be taking a break at 1:00 today. since you are the next two apartments, you probably will be called, but otherwise, we will be resuming probably around 1:40. thank you. >> good morning. i am the law librarian. i just have a few preliminary remarks. just to familiarize any of you who are not so knowledgeable about the law library and what we do -- supervisor chu: could i ask you to pull the microphone closer? >> the law library continues to be the city's access point for citizens to obtain legal information needed to protect their rights and manage their legal affairs. the law library especially meets the legal information needs of the many members of the public who do not have a legal background or training and many of whom are unable to obtain counsel or assistance from litigants, and this is all walks of life, including small business owners, people of middle income, as well as low- income pat

that says that first of the ten commandments no law that says that there's no law that says that but so so you know the assertion that i'm behind you know i was that is that we have laws against stealing and killing and things not because they're in the tent it's because every human on earth regardless of their religion has these things are wrong and yet they know because of the natural law to come from god and grain natural law but not not because it's written in a particular you know same you agree with me i'm agreeing that it that they're there is a loudmouth ingrained in human being that is they know right from wrong absolutely and that's why we don't need as as jefferson said in fact he said. i. find the quote right he said when we started we didn't have to do go to the must be homes of other religions to religions define he said we looked in our hearts and we found it in three of the roads. he you know he said it was natural well it is natural law but i have thanks to citizens of louisiana have a right through that legislature as they wanted to the ten commandments to be in the

that memorandum so that's good law. people make all kinds of arguments of course and say well you know if there is a u.n. security council resolution that's irrelevant there is need oh that's irrelevant and furthermore new is not something separable from the united states united states something like two thirds of its budget u.s. forces are in combat u.s. forces are undertaking military missions that's the language of the world law u.s. forces in combat it's absolutely not a diversion to say that there's a u.n. security council resolution were to see that nato approved this you know do you think about if you in denver ok leslie jump in that's what the point of this program is going yeah i mean i think i think we have to be a little bit careful here to differentiate different types of different ways of using military force in this particular intervention we're talking about intelligence surveillance unmanned. unmanned sorties we're not talking about sending military troops in on the ground to fight a ground war so which

is being respected in the spirit of how the law was generated originally so folks like n.p.a. the motion picture association of america they're recording industry association of america they're basically changing a lot to suit their very narrow interests but at be experienced of what is obviously imply and infer and talked about in the constitution one needs to remember here is that it's the job out here brick industry lobby to try to change the law to better suit their industry they're trying to tweak society to get on top of everybody else especially i guess the lobbyist job and the people i blame for this all the politicians whose job it is. to see things for what they are and look at it in a bigger perspective and see ok these guys are asking for what's the costs to society and politicians have failed miserably at doing that particular job did arrive. actually at the right and fifteen fifty seven in it with queen mary the first also known as bloody mary who was trying to clamp down on a pretty press as it allowed knowledge to roam free without control of the crown of the c

law. she is considered one of the nations leading young legal historians and has written widely in areas of legal history, education law, and the supreme court people protection jurisprudence. her scholarship has appeared in some of the foremost law journals within the legal academy. in february of this year oxford university press published professor brown-nagin's first book, "courage to dissent: atlanta and the long history of the civil rights movement" your asocial legal history about lawyers, courts and community based activism during the civil rights era. this highly anticipated work has already garnered widespread acclaim. most notably for members of our community, the book features some of the lawyers who are integral players in the legal odyssey that ultimately led to the desegregation of the university of georgia. this will be the subject of her talk today. if you have questions at the end of her talk, please use a microphone stand at the front to ask the question. and at this tim

the law could not be clearer. at a certain point you have to follow along arrogant -- follow the law. they are getting it said wrong. and we do not have a hard copy, because we did not know they would say it is a storage facility for the landlord. can we have the overhead? i will just leave copies of this memo is that outlines the gross floor area. if you look, i guess it is not up. it is labeled, but what does it say wha? building exit corridor. i guess you can rewrite it the second time around. it is over 4000. let's send it to planning. this project is over 4000 floor fee or square-foot. but have a conditional hearing. thank you very much. president goh: we have t>> thise public. president goh: my apologies. >> you want copies for the commissioners? president goh: i will take one. >> next speaker, please step forward. >> good evening, commissioners, gus hernandez. i am just a neighbor. i am not an attorney. but i have read the planning code, and i believe this project should be before the planning commission. y

immigration law. at&t mobility against conception. the question is whether the federal arbitration act provide the to the rule of california contract law, the self discovery law, which deemed class action waivers unenforceable when certain criteria are met.

like the arizona law the georgia law promotes racial profiling instructs police officers to check the immigration status of people who don't look like me belong here as in people who are white americans and georgia's law goes a step further and axes that targets taxicab drivers to under the law it is illegal for taxicab drivers to transport any illegal immigrants that means it's their responsibility now a big ad driver to ask any new fair and good for the back of their kids for their immigration papers before giving them a ride that's right in georgia taxi drivers are now our first line of defense against illegal immigrants. because to say this law isn't sitting too well with the state's cab drivers more than two thousand of them backed by several taxi companies filed a lawsuit against a georgia in washington one of the attorneys for the cab drivers on the suit said it is our hope that the legislature and local law enforcement authorities would not seek to penalize drivers for simply taking people from point a to point b. so how does putting taxicab drivers in charge of enforcing ille