The Nation, July 29, 2010 by Robin Templeton
http://www.thenation.com/article/38035/baby-baiting
“The new laws effectively sentence people to a ten-year separation from their families if they try to go through the application process,” says Blanco. “When you read the statistics about how the undocumented population has increased, you have to realize how much of that is the direct result of blocking people from gaining legal status who, before, legitimately could.”
CNN Politics blog, June 18, 2010 by Ed Hornick
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/18/prop.8.implications/
“Let’s say the plaintiffs survive and win [in this case] and they win on a rational basis, I’m sure the defendants would appeal and say they didn’t meet the rational basis test … or could appeal by saying the court used the wrong standard,” she said.
The Promise of Berkeley, October 2009
http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/_x7319a_pob_fall_09_compiled.v2/18?mode=a_p
Rachel Moran: I was surprised at the level of attention that [wise Latina] remark received. I felt it was about how diversity can improve outcomes. When you have all kinds of people on the bench, they reach better results through the vigorous exchange of ideas.
Maria Blanco: She will bring more trial court and appellate experience than any sitting on the court. She has the most judicial experience of any Supreme Court nominee in the last 70 years and the most federal judicial experience in 100 years.
Melissa Murray: She made sure we understood that behind every appeal there was a person who wanted and deserved to be heard. She also emphasized the importance of giving back. She routinely went out of her way to mentor young people and young lawyers in New York City.
The Daily Californian, August 26, 2009 by Javier Panzar
http://www.dailycal.org/article/106345/sotomayor_appointment_serves_as_milestone_for_law_
Maria Blanco, executive director of the Earl Warren Institute … said she sees the appointment of Sotomayor as a milestone for women and minorities in the profession. “It is unbelievable,” she said. “I didn’t think I would see it in my lifetime. I thought maybe the next generation of lawyers after me would see it…. It is very exciting and very inspirational.”
Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2009 by David G. Savage
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sotomayor17-2009jul17,0,7388549.story
“I think Judge Sotomayor performed very well,” said Maria Blanco, executive director of the Earl Warren Institute at UC Berkeley. “In the face of comments that she was hot-tempered and adversarial, she answered those charges by exhibiting a calm, thoughtful and unflappable manner. And she came across as having an extremely sharp legal mind.”
PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, July 14, 2009 Host Jim Lehrer
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec09/sotoanalysis_07-14.html
I think all the Supreme Court nomination hearings that we’ve seen over the last 10 to 12 years always have this subtext of, what is the two or three or four different views of the interpretation of the Constitution? And they are more than confirmation hearings. They are sort of garnering support for one particular view of how the Constitution should be interpreted by the Supreme Court, the narrow, originalist view, or the more expansive view. And, in some ways, the senators on both sides played to their base, and—as many have said—it is political theater that goes beyond the qualifications of the nominee.
-KQED-FM, Forum with Michael Krasny May 26, 2009 Host Michael Krasny
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R905260900
“Nobody has pointed to any opinion where she has been activist. I think the one thing that everybody points to is one line and one speech…. She was under consideration by President Bush, she sided often with Republican appointees in the Second Circuit … so I would not at all jump to that conclusion.”
-KGO-TV, May 26, 2009 by Mark Matthews
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=6833290&pt=print
“I think that she’s saying something that everybody knows, and she’s being candid,” said Maria Blanco from UC Berkeley Law School. “I think what she’s saying in that comment, is that it’s good to have somebody on the bench that knows that element.”
-KPIX-TV, May 28, 2009 by Joe Vasquez
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=50694@kpix.dayport.com
“The minute somebody mentions race, we all go a little crazy.” Maria Blanco is Director of the Institute of Race and Ethnicity at UC Berkeley’s Law School. She says you have to look at the context of the speech. Sotomayor was advocating for a more diverse judiciary because many of the issues that come before the courts have to do with women and people of color. “She’s really saying race matters. And ‘race matters’ is not the same as being a racist. Saying race matters is saying look at the reality of our world, still today, you know, in 2009, in spite of how far we’ve come.”
-San Francisco Chronicle, The Melting Pot, March 17, 2009 by Tyche Hendricks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=37114
“They were thinking it was going to be a hard confirmation and they didn’t want to expend the political capital,” UC Berkeley’s Maria Blanco told The Melting Pot. “If they weren’t willing to fight for him, what does it mean for immigration reform? That’s what everyone’s worried about.”
-Daily Journal, March 19, 2009 by Roberta Iafolla and Sandra Hernandez
http://www.dailyjournal.com/law/index.cfm (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)
The White House was particularly troubled over the controversy generated by Saenz’s successful legal challenges of local ordinances banning day laborers from city streets and of California’s Proposition 187, a 1994 voter initiative seeking to cut off services to undocumented immigrants, said Maria Blanco, executive director of UC Berkeley School of Law’s Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute.
-Daily Journal, March 30, 2009 by Roberta Iafolla
http://www.dailyjournal.com/law/index.cfm (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)
Saenz had been tapped to be the department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, according to Maria Blanco, executive director of UC Berkeley School of Law’s Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity and an adviser on the presidential transition team. But news that Saenz had been offered the position sparked harsh online criticism by conservative groups.
Hispanic Business, Nov. 26, 2008 by Robert Janis
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/news_print.asp?id=136495
Maria Blanco is the first Executive Director of the Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at the University of California, Berkeley Law School…. Ms. Blanco served as an advisor to the Obama campaign in California during the California primary.
New American Media, Nov. 12, 2008 by Annette Fuentes
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=931bc18d8c825b753d6d59c5195d561d
“We thought it would be important regardless of which administration came in to have a talent book, in a sense, of people of color that could go into a new administration,” said Maria Blanco…. “Because of the nature of DC, it’s an insiders hiring world, which tends to exclude people of color because they aren’t in those circles.”
San Francisco Chronicle, August 20, by Tyche Hendricks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/08/20/MNKN12DESI.DTL
“The interesting thing about these swing states in the Southwest is that they’re swing and the Latino vote is very strong,” said Obama adviser Maria Blanco…. “It could make a difference.”
Univision, July 7, by Luis Mejidhttp://www.univision.com/portal.jhtmlMaría Blanco criticized efforts underway in various states to prohibit undocumented students from attending public higher education institutions. She called the policy “short sighted” because the vast majority of these high school graduates become citizens, and she said it’s better for the economy and for their integration if they get a college degree.
San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, by Tyche Hendricks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/29/BAE710D82V.DTL&type=printable
Workers who don’t speak or read English are often at greater risk because they don’t understand safety instructions, Blanco said. And for some immigrants, the need for the job is so great that they’re less willing to walk away from a risky situation, she said…. “Two things could make a huge difference. First, job training and postings have to be bilingual. And since it’s easy to see the industries where the deaths are focused, it should be possible to have targeted accident education and enforcement.”