Approximately 30 students joined Professor Noah Zatz in his discussion of welfare policies and their disfranchisement of low income working women and primary caretakers. Professor Zatz explored welfare ironies such as supplementing families who “child-swap,” i.e. two neighbors who care for the other’s children through in-home childcare facilities, while not recognizing any earned income of those who choose to care for their own children. Through analysis of economic, political, and legal ramifications, Zatz promoted feminist-based policies that provide a child-care supplement to working families and in-home caretakers.

The Constitution in the 21st Century Project’s Access to Justice Issue Group and the California ACS Chapters held the Access to Justice Symposium and West Coast Networking Conference on April 7-8. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)was the keynote speaker. The conference met in downtown San Francisco, CA on the evening of Friday, April 7 with a judges’ discussion of the proposed split of the Ninth Circuit featuring four sitting judges: Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder; and Judges Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Sidney R. Thomas and Raymond C. Fisher. The conference continued on Saturday, April 8 at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley with substantive panels, the keynote luncheon, career workshops and an organizing session. Thank you to all of the speakers and participants for making this conference a great success. Please see the complete schedule and list of speakers for more details.

On October 19, 2005 the UCLA chapter of the American Constitution Society sponsored a Moot Court presentation of Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Benificiente Uniao Do Vegetal (considering whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act abrogates portions of the Controlled Substances Act in the context of religious use of psychotropic substances), featuring Nancy Hollander, the attorney arguing the case before the Supreme Court. The mock Supreme Court panel included Kenneth Starr, Eugene Volokh, the managing director of the ACLU of Southern California, and two Supreme Court litigators. The respondents were also present. The event attracted more than 250 students, faculty, and community members. To learn more about the UCLA ACS chapter, visit the chapter website.